Abstract:
The liquefaction of sugar cane bagasse in supercritical ethanol and a mixture of ethanol and water was performed in a 250 mL batch reactor to evaluate the optimum condition for bio-oil production. The following variables were studied: temperature, initial H2 pressure, time, catalyst type (FeS, Fe2S3/AC and FeSO4), solvent / bagasse ratio and % water in ethanol. The effects of process variables on biomass conversion and oil yield were investigated. For non catalytic liquefaction using ethanol, a high oil yield of 59.6% (daf)and biomass conversion of 89.8 % were obtained at 330.C, 4.93 MPa of initial H2 pressure for 40 min. For catalytic liquefaction in the presence of FeSO4 catalyst at the same condition, the oil yield increased to 73.8 % (daf) and biomass conversion reached 99.9 %. The bio-oil has higher heating value (26.8 MJ/kg) than the sugar cane bagasse (14.8 MJ/kg). From GC-MS analysis of the oil products, the phenolic compounds, aldehydes and esters were dominant such as phenol, phenol derivative and furan derivative.
Chulalongkorn University. Center of Academic Resources