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Hydrothermal carbonization of sugarcane industry by-products and process water reuse: structural, morphological, and fuel properties of hydrochars

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Abstract

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) has emerged as a promising technology for sustainable use and waste valorization. One major challenge of HTC technology is the process water (PW) disposal or reuse, which is rich in dissolved organic carbon. This study evaluated the (i) potential of HTC to transform sugarcane industry by-products (sugarcane bagasse and vinasse) into useful materials for energy purposes, after, (ii) carry out the PW reuse in a novel HTC process with sugarcane bagasse. Relationships among composition, structure and morphology with fuel properties of hydrochars were evaluated. All hydrochars had lower volatile matter and higher fixed carbon content compared to the raw biomass. In addition, the decrease of H/C and O/C atomic ratios indicated an enhancement of the dehydration and deoxygenation reactions. Furthermore, the higher heating values (HHV) of hydrochars were in the range of 21.10–23.78 MJ kg-1, compared to 15.43 MJ kg-1 of the sugarcane bagasse. This result added to those from the van Krevelen diagram showed that the hydrochars presented fuel properties similar to conventional non-renewable energy sources, such as bituminous coal. Overall, the PW reuse did not promote great differences in the hydrochar properties and, consequently, no big changes on their fuel properties. Further, the hydrochar produced with sugarcane bagasse, vinasse, and sulfuric acid showed the highest heating value, and it was the most hydrophobic hydrochar among the others investigated. Therefore, the present study showed HTC and PW reuse as promising methods to treat the sugarcane industry by-products for solid fuel production.

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Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grants 15/22954-1, 17/26718-6, and 18/15733-7). J.V.S acknowledges a scholarship from FAPESP (grants 17/05408-9 and 18/09914-9). O.P.F. acknowledges financial support from Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (FUNCAP) through the Grants “PRONEX PR2-0101-00006.01.00/15” and “Rational Design of Nanomaterials and Applications in Environmental Remediation, Agriculture and Health” and also to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) through the Grant 313637/2019-9 (CNPq DT 29/2019). M.C.B. acknowledges financial support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) through the Grant 303377/2019-4. The authors thank Dr. Maurício Boscolo for offering assistance with the FTIR analysis (FAPESP, grant 2017/13230-5).

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  1. Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Laboratório de Estudos em Ciências Ambientais (LECA), Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Rua Cristovão Colombo 2265, Jardim Nazareth, São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo state, 15054-000, Brazil

    João Vitor dos Santos, Laís Gomes Fregolente, Marcio Justi Laranja, Altair Benedito Moreira & Márcia Cristina Bisinoti

  2. Departamento de Física, Laboratório de Materiais Funcionais Avançados (LaMFA), Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza, Ceará state, 60455-900, Brazil

    Laís Gomes Fregolente & Odair Pastor Ferreira

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  1. João Vitor dos Santos
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dos Santos, J.V., Fregolente, L.G., Laranja, M.J. et al. Hydrothermal carbonization of sugarcane industry by-products and process water reuse: structural, morphological, and fuel properties of hydrochars. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12, 153–161 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01476-z

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