The Consistency of Yields and Chemical Composition of HTL Bio-Oils from Lignins Produced by Different Preprocessing Technologies

Hilde Vik Halleraker, Konstantinos Kalogiannis, Angelos Lappas, Rafael C. A. Castro, Ines C. Roberto, Solange I. Mussatto and Tanja Barth
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Hilde Vik Halleraker: Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen, Allègaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Konstantinos Kalogiannis: Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), 6th km Harilaou-Thermi Rd, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Angelos Lappas: Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), 6th km Harilaou-Thermi Rd, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Rafael C. A. Castro: Departmento de Biotecnologia Escola de Engenharia de Lorena, Universidade de São Paulo, Lorena 12602-810, SP, Brazil
Ines C. Roberto: Departmento de Biotecnologia Escola de Engenharia de Lorena, Universidade de São Paulo, Lorena 12602-810, SP, Brazil
Solange I. Mussatto: Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Søltofts Plads, Building 223, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Tanja Barth: Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen, Allègaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: This work evaluates the effect of feedstock type and composition on the conversion of lignin to liquid by solvolysis with formic acid as hydrogen donor (LtL), by analyzing the yields and molecular composition of the liquid products and interpreting them in terms of both the type and the preprocessing of the lignocellulosic biomass using chemometric data analysis. Lignin samples of different types and purities from softwood, hardwood, and grasses (rice straw and corn stover) have been converted to bio-oil, and the molecular composition analyzed and quantified using GC-MS. LtL solvolysis was found to be a robust method for lignin conversion in terms of converting all samples into bio-oils rich in phenolic compounds regardless of the purity of the lignin sample. The bio-oil yields ranged from 24–94 wt.% relative to lignin input and could be modelled well as a function of the elemental composition of the feedstock. On a molecular basis, the softwood-derived bio-oil contained the most guaiacol-derivatives, and syringol was correlated to hardwood. However, the connection between compounds in the bio-oil and lignin origin was less pronounced than the effects of the methods for biomass fractionation, showing that the pretreatment of the biomass dominates both the yield and molecular composition of the bio-oil and must be addressed as a primary concern when utilization of lignin in a biorefinery is planned.

Keywords: biomass; hydrothermal liquefaction; lignin; lignin to liquid; solvolysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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