Issue 11, 2023

Desalting biocrude for improved downstream processing toward marine fuel application

Abstract

Hydrothermal liquefaction of wet wastes (e.g., food waste and sewage sludge) offers a promising avenue for producing biocrude, but the resulting product is often contaminated with metals and water, impacting the biocrude upgrading steps to produce final fuel (e.g., jet and diesel). This study investigates the use of aqueous solutions of formic acid for desalting biocrudes and improving their quality. The results show that this approach significantly reduces both metal and water content, enabling mild hydrotreatment with reduced hydrogen consumption to further enhance the biocrude's quality. A preliminary technoeconomic analysis based on these experimental results shows that even without optimization, this washing process can yield biocrude with a minimum selling price of $1.87/GGE. Overall, our study demonstrates the potential for using dilute formic acid aqueous solutions to improve the quality of biocrudes, which can lead to more efficient and cost-effective conversion into biofuels.

Graphical abstract: Desalting biocrude for improved downstream processing toward marine fuel application

  • This article is part of the themed collection: Biorefining

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 2 2023
Accepted
29 4 2023
First published
16 5 2023

Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2023,7, 2670-2679

Desalting biocrude for improved downstream processing toward marine fuel application

U. Kilgore, D. M. Santosa, S. Li, P. Wang, S. Lee, M. R. Thorson and K. Ramasamy, Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2023, 7, 2670 DOI: 10.1039/D3SE00189J

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