Recently, many countries are focusing on reducing waste, and converting their waste resources into energy. HTC(Hydrothermal carbonization) is a highly effective technique for treating organic waste of various shapes and moisture content (e.g., sludge, MSW (Municipal Solid Waste), food waste, etc.).  The objective of this work is to produce solid biofuel from organic waste using the catalytic HTC process. The HTC process can produce gaseous, liquefied and solid products, however this study focused on solid product only as an alternative to coal.  In this study, sawdust, which has a low moisture content (=5%), and sole fruit peel, which has a high moisture content (=75%), were used for feedstock. Water was added to the feedstock to raise moisture content to 80% and specific acid and metal salt were also added as a catalyst. Feedstock was cut less than 1cm and reacted for 10~60 minutes at a temperature range from 180?- 260?.  From these experiments, the end product contained a high calorie value (over 6,500 kcal/kg) like a low grade coal and the higher heating value (HHV) was proportional to increasing temperature and reaction time. In case of adding catalyst, HHV of solid biofuels was higher and reaction occurred at a lower temperature and pressure with high calories.  Also, the solid product was characterized and was analyzed as C, H, O, N compositions by the elemental analysis (EA). The carbon content of the feedstock was increased with temperature via the HTC process. This indicates that the carbon content is directly related to the energy increases. However, mass yield was decreased with increasing temperature. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize offset-point for maximizing mass yield and calories simultaneously.

Production of solid biofuel from organic waste using catalytic HTC process

247th National Meeting (2014)

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