Production and Characterization of Hydrochar and Biocrude of Yard Waste from Tectona Grandis Using Hydrothermal Carbonization

Abstract

Research on the study of tectona grandis for adsorption of dyes, extraction of chemicals dissolved in it for pharma industries is studied from many years. Few researchers have explored the use of tectona grandis in thermo-chemical process such as torrefaction, and pyrolysis. But the study to use of Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) to convert leaf litter to value added products of tectona grandis for varying process conditions is not performed. This research is focused to ascertain the role of HTC process parameters on hydrochar and biocrude produced from tectona grandis leaf litter. HTC experiments were conducted in a batch reactor. Various process parameters such as temperature and residence time which affects the yield of hydrochar is reported. HTC of yard waste is carried out at 210oC for a residence time of 20 min in a batch reactor which gives the hydrochar yield of 65% with higher heating value of 26.63 MJ/kg. Characterization of hydrochar performed with proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, SEM and FTIR showed that hydrochar properties are better compared to feedstock properties which can be effectively used as solid fuel. The liquid bio crude separated from solid hydrochar is analyzed using UV spectroscopy. It is found to contain the compounds such as 5-HMF, dibenzofuran, naphthalene and anthracene.