Decisive role of vacuum-assisted carbonization in valorization of lignin-enriched (Juglans regia-shell) biowaste

Balal Yousaf; Guijian Liu; Muhammad Ubaid Ali; Qumber Abbas; Yuan Liu; Habib Ullah; Ayesha Imtiyaz Cheema

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124541

Decisive role of vacuum-assisted carbonization in valorization of lignin-enriched (Juglans regia-shell) biowaste

Bioresour Technol. 2021 Mar:323:124541. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124541. Epub 2020 Dec 14.

Authors

Balal Yousaf¹, Guijian Liu², Muhammad Ubaid Ali³, Qumber Abbas⁴, Yuan Liu⁴, Habib Ullah⁵, Ayesha Imtiyaz Cheema⁴

Affiliations

¹ CAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710075, China; Environmental Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06800, Turkey.
² CAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710075, China. Electronic address: lgj@ustc.edu.cn.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, And State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518000, China.
⁴ CAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
⁵ Department of Environmental Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.

PMID: 33370680
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124541

Abstract

Bioenergy is considered a sustainable substitute to fossil-fuel resources and the development of a prudent combination of renewable and innovative conversion technologies are essential for the valorization and effective conversion of biowaste to value-added commodities. Here, a negative pressure-induced carbonization process was proposed for the valorization of lignin-enriched biowaste precursor to bio-oil and environmental materials (biochar) at various temperatures. The high heating values (HHV) of the as-prepared biochars from the lignin enriched precursor under negative pressure (low-medium vacuum) were within 25.9-31.5 MJ/kg, which matched satisfactorily to the commercial charcoal. Whereas, the bio-oils produced from the lignin enriched precursor under vacuum conditions was a blend of complex aromatic and straight-chain hydro-carbons, including aldehyde, ketone, phenol, and furans, exhibiting ability as potential heating-oil with HHV within 21.2-28.2 MJ/kg. Moreover, the biochars produced under vacuum environments at higher temperature showed greater stability (22.5-35.9%) than those produced under N₂ atmosphere.

Keywords: Bio-oil; Biochar; Lignin enriched biomass; Vacuum-assisted pyrolysis, Waste valorization.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Carbon
Charcoal
Hot Temperature
Juglans*
Lignin*

Substances

Charcoal
Carbon
Lignin