Sustainable Valorization of Wood Residue for the Production of Biofuel Materials Via Continuous Flow Hydrothermal Liquefaction

Abstract

When forests are extensively cleared for infrastructure and agricultural purposes, over half of the wood generated is regarded as waste. To minimize the negative consequences and successfully use renewable energy sources, further applications must be investigated. Biomass has the potential to be converted into biofuels using a process known as hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The conversion of wood residue under continuous flow, subcritical HTL, under both untreated and alkaline pretreated conditions was examined in this study. According to the results, pretreatment with 4% NaOH sped up recovery times compared to using raw wood and increased glucose production by 1.8 times (equivalent to 90 g/L) in comparison to using raw wood. Additionally, the fluid’s pH was raised from 6.1 to 3.5 due to the alkaline pretreatment, which also switched the hydrolysis of arabinose and cellobiose to rhamnose at 0.2 MPa. The average Net Energy Ratio (NER) for glucose during liquefaction reached values as high as 63%, while the energy output from glucose during the pretreatment reached 246 kJ. The move to green energy transition toward net zero will be aided by these findings, which will usher in new waste conversion techniques to produce sustainable biofuels using continuous flow HTL. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].