Clean solid fuel produced from cotton textiles waste through hydrothermal carbonization with FeCl3: Upgrading the fuel quality and combustion characteristics

Renzhi Qi, Zhihua Xu, Yuwei Zhou, Daofang Zhang, Zhenhua Sun, Weifang Chen and Mengmeng Xiong

Energy, 2021, vol. 214, issue C

Abstract: Cotton textiles waste (CTW) was employed by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process catalyzed with FeCl3 to prepare hydrochars. FeCl3 could preliminarily lower the initial hydrothermal temperature, catalyze dehydration and decarboxylation to facilitate the formation of furfural derivatives. Subsequently, the synergistic effect of FeCl3 and HTC regulated the side reaction pathway to convert more furfural derivatives into pseudo lignin structure, which further updating the thermal characteristics and combustion properties of hydrochars. The results demonstrated that the fuel ratio increased from 0.07 to 0.87 and the higher heating values (HHVs) of hydrochars became 1.05–1.67 times of CTW (18.63 MJ/kg). Moreover, FeCl3 also enhanced the efficient conversion from volatile matters to fixed carbon and elevated the ignition temperature of hydrochars from 292.7 to 431 °C as compared to the CTW. Furthermore, the potential formation mechanism and development trend of the pseudo lignin in the process of HTC with FeCl3 were also proposed. The study proposed a way to promote the formation of high value-added by-products in the HTC process, and also provided a novel approach to obtain a better combustion performance of clean solid fuel.

Keywords: Cotton textiles waste; Hydrothermal carbonization; FeCl3; Pseudo lignin; Clean solid fuel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:214:y:2021:i:c:s0360544220320338

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118926

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