Reaction kinetics of hydrothermal carbonization of loblolly pine.
Bioresour Technol
; 139: 161-9, 2013 Jul.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23651600
ABSTRACT
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a pretreatment process to convert diverse feedstocks to homogeneous energy-dense solid fuels. Understanding of reaction kinetics is necessary for reactor design and optimization. In this study, the reaction kinetics and effects of particle size on HTC were investigated. Experiments were conducted in a novel two-chamber reactor maintaining isothermal conditions for 15s to 30 min reaction times. Loblolly pine was treated at 200, 230, and 260°C. During the first few minutes of reaction, the solid-product mass yield decreases rapidly while the calorific value increases rapidly. A simple reaction mechanism is proposed and validated, in which both hemicellulose and cellulose degrade in parallel first-order reactions. Activation energy of hemicellulose and cellulose degradation were determined to be 30 and 73 kJ/mol, respectively. For short HTC times, both reaction and diffusion effects were observed.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Temperature
/
Biotechnology
/
Carbon
/
Water
/
Pinus taeda
Language:
En
Journal:
Bioresour Technol
Journal subject:
ENGENHARIA BIOMEDICA
Year:
2013
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States