title: Hydrothermal carbonization of agricultural residues.
abstract: The work presented in this article addresses the application of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) to produce a solid fuel named HTC-Biochar, whose characteristics are comparable to brown coal. Several batch HTC experiments were performed using agricultural residues (AR) as substrates, commonly treated in farm-based biogas plants in Germany. Different AR were used in different combinations with other biomass residues. The biogas potential from the resulting process water was also determined. The combination of different AR lead to the production of different qualities of HTC-Biochars as well as different mass and energy yields. Using more lignocellulosic residues lead to higher mass and energy yields for the HTC-Biochar produced. Whilst residues rich in carbohydrates of lower molecular weight such as corn silage and dough residues lead to the production of a HTC-Biochar of better quality and more similar to brown coal. Process water achieved a maximum of 16.3 L CH4/kg FM (fresh matter).
authors.affiliation: University of Applied Sciences - Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Campus Höxter, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Applied Informatics, Professorship of Waste Management and Landfill Technology, An der Wilhelmshöhe 44, 37671 Höxter, Germany. ioliveir@glam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blöhse
authors.forename: Hans-Günter
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Ramke
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Agricultural residues; Biogas potential; HTC-Biochar; Hydrothermal carbonization; Process water