Abstract
The world has become dependent on petroleum as a feedstock for most products that we use in our daily lives. As an alternative, bio-refineries that transform biomass into biofuels and primary chemicals are emerging. Actually, many wastes are not fully recycled. For instance, potato peel is a cheap residue available from the potato industry. Up to now, potato peel has been used mostly for livestock feeding. Here, potato peel waste was subjected to direct acid liquefaction at 160 °C in 2-ethylhexanol and diethylene glycol using p-toluene sulfonic acid as catalyst. The product was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, chemical analysis, hydroxyl number and acid value. Results show that liquefaction was achieved in yields higher than 80%. The reactional profile shows two time zones, one comprising the process of liquefaction and one corresponding to the process of decomposition. Kinetics indicate that the liquefaction process occurs 1.9 times faster than the decomposition process. Overall, our findings show for the first time that, despite the water content, potato peel waste can be used to produce bio-oil. The products can be further used as fuels or refined chemicals such as levulinic acid, furfural, 5-hydroxyfurfural, dimethyl furfural and sugars in fermentation processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arapoglou D, Varzakas T, Vlyssides A, Israilides C (2010) Ethanol production from potato peel waste (PPW). Waste Manag 30:1898–1902. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2010.04.017
dos Santos RG, Carvalho R, Silva ER et al (2016) Natural polymeric water-based adhesive from cork liquefaction. Ind Crops Prod 84:314–319. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.02.020
FAO (2016) Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations—Statistics Division. http://faostat3.fao.org/browse/Q/QC/E. Accessed 20 May 2016
Gama NV, Soares B, Freire CSR et al (2015) Rigid polyurethane foams derived from cork liquefied at atmospheric pressure. Polym Int 64:250–257. doi:10.1002/pi.4783
Guechi E-K, Hamdaoui O (2016) Evaluation of potato peel as a novel adsorbent for the removal of Cu(II) from aqueous solutions: equilibrium, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies. Desalin Water Treat 57:10677–10688
Hossain MB, Tiwari BK, Gangopadhyay N et al (2014) Ultrasonic extraction of steroidal alkaloids from potato peel waste. Ultrason Sonochem 21:1470–1476. doi:10.1016/jultsonch.2014.01.023
Hossain MB, Rawson A, Aguilo-Aguayo I et al (2015) Recovery of steroidal alkaloids from potato peels using pressurized liquid extraction. Molecules 20:8560–8573. doi:10.3390/molecules20058560
Jasiukaityte E, Kunaver M, Strlic M (2009) Cellulose liquefaction in acidified ethylene glycol. Cellulose 16:393–405. doi:10.1007/s10570-009-9288-y
Khawla BJ, Sameh M, Imen G et al (2014) Potato peel as feedstock for bioethanol production: a comparison of acidic and enzymatic hydrolysis. Ind Crops Prod 52:144–149. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.10.025
Krzan A, Kunaver M (2006) Microwave heating in wood liquefaction. J Appl Polym Sci 101:1051–1056. doi:10.1002/app.23488
Kumar VB, Pulidindi IN, Gedanken A (2016) Glucose production from potato peel waste under microwave irradiation. J Mol Catal A Chem 417:163–167. doi:10.1016/j.molcata.2016.03.025
Kunaver M, Jasiukaitytė E, Čuk N (2012) Ultrasonically assisted liquefaction of lignocellulosic materials. Bioresour Technol 103:360–366. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2011.09.051
Liang S, McDonald AG (2014) Chemical and thermal characterization of potato peel waste and its fermentation residue as potential resources for biofuel and bioproducts production. J Agric Food Chem 62:8421–8429. doi:10.1021/jf5019406
Mateus MM, Acero NF, Bordado JC, dos Santos RG (2015) Sonication as a foremost tool to improve cork liquefaction. Ind Crop Prod 74:9–13. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2015.04.063
Mateus MM, Bordado JC, dos Santos RG (2016) Potential biofuel from liquefied cork—higher heating value comparison. Fuel 174:114–117. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2016.01.081
Pan H (2011) Synthesis of polymers from organic solvent liquefied biomass: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 15:3454–3463. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2011.05.002
Schieber A, Stintzing FC, Carle R (2001) By-products of plant food processing as a source of functional compounds—recent developments. Trends Food Sci Technol 12:401–413. doi:10.1016/S0924-2244(02)00012-2
Soares B, Gama N, Freire C et al (2014) Ecopolyol production from industrial cork powder via acid liquefaction using polyhydric alcohols. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 2:846–854. doi:10.1021/sc400488c
Weingarten R, Conner WC, Huber GW (2012) Production of levulinic acid from cellulose by hydrothermal decomposition combined with aqueous phase dehydration with a solid acid catalyst. Energy Environ Sci 5:7559–7574. doi:10.1039/C2EE21593D
Wu D (2016) Recycle technology for potato peel waste processing: a review. Procedia Environ Sci 31:103–107. doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2016.02.014
Xiao W, Han L, Zhao Y (2011) Comparative study of conventional and microwave-assisted liquefaction of corn stover in ethylene glycol. Ind Crops Prod 34:1602–1606. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2011.05.024
Xie J, Zhai X, Hse C et al (2015) Polyols from microwave liquefied bagasse and its application to rigid polyurethane foam. Materials (Basel) 8:5472
Xu F, Yu J, Tesso T et al (2013) Qualitative and quantitative analysis of lignocellulosic biomass using infrared techniques: a mini-review. Appl Energy 104:801–809. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.12.019
Zeitsch KJ (2000) The chemistry and technology of furfural and its many by-products
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of CERENA strategic Project (FCT-UID/ECI/04028/2013) funded by Fundação para Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal. R. Galhano dos Santos also acknowledge for the Postdoctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/105662/2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Galhano dos Santos, R., Ventura, P., Bordado, J.C. et al. Direct and efficient liquefaction of potato peel into bio-oil. Environ Chem Lett 15, 453–458 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-017-0620-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-017-0620-8