The Impact of a Mild Sub-Critical Hydrothermal Carbonization Pretreatment on Umbila Wood. A Mass and Energy Balance Perspective

Carlos Alberto Cuvilas, Efthymios Kantarelis and Weihong Yang
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Carlos Alberto Cuvilas: Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UEM—University Eduardo Mondlane, Av. de Moçambique Km 1.5, P.O. Box 257, Maputo 1100, Mozambique
Efthymios Kantarelis: Division of Energy and Furnace Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 23, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Weihong Yang: Division of Energy and Furnace Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 23, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Over the last years, the pretreatment of biomass as a source of energy has become one of the most important steps of biomass conversion. In this work the effect of a mild subcritical hydrothermal carbonization of a tropical woody biomass was studied. Results indicate considerable change in carbon content from 52.78% to 65.1%, reduction of oxygen content from 41.14% to 28.72% and ash slagging and fouling potential. Even though decarboxylation, decarbonylation and dehydration reactions take place, dehydration is the one that prevails. The mass and energy balance was affected by the treatment conditions than the severity of the treatment.

Keywords: hydrothermal carbonisation; pre-treatment; biomass; solid bio fuels (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: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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