Feasibility of anaerobic digestion as a treatment for the aqueous pyrolysis condensate (APC) of birch bark

Connie Wen; Cesar M Moreira; Lars Rehmann; Franco Berruti

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123199

Feasibility of anaerobic digestion as a treatment for the aqueous pyrolysis condensate (APC) of birch bark

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Jul:307:123199. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123199. Epub 2020 Mar 17.

Authors

Connie Wen¹, Cesar M Moreira², Lars Rehmann¹, Franco Berruti³

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St., London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada.
² Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St., London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada; Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Energías Renovables y Alternativas (CERA) - Facultad de Ingeniería en Mecánica y Ciencias de la Producción (FIMCP), Campus Gustavo Galindo km, 30.5 vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
³ Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St., London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada. Electronic address: fberruti@uwo.ca.

PMID: 32220821
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123199

Abstract

Biooil produced via biomass pyrolysis includes an aqueous-acidic phase and a dense and rich organic phase. The aqueous phase has a low heating value and is considered a waste stream. In this study fractional condensation was employed to separate the liquid product of birch bark pyrolysis into an aqueous pyrolysis condensate (APC) and a dense biooil fraction. The APC contained high amounts (~100 g/kg) of acidic acid (AA) and was investigated for anaerobic digestion (AD). The AA in the APC could be converted to biogas, however, it contained elevated concentrations of microbial inhibitors (24 g/kg total phenolics). The inhibiting effect could be mitigated by acclimatization of the microbial population, which in turn converted some of the additional organics. The production of methane further improved with the addition of biochar to adsorb some of the inhibitors. The results imply that a waste product can be converted into a potential energy carrier.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Aqueous pyrolysis condensate; Biochar.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Betula*
Biofuels
Bioreactors
Feasibility Studies
Methane
Plant Bark
Pyrolysis*

Substances

Biofuels
Methane