No abstract

No abstract

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a thermochemical process specifically suitable for treating wet wastes. This study investigated its potential for the production of biocrude oil and the recovery of nutrients and metals from human feces via HTL. Specifically, the effects of temperature (260 o C, 300 o C, 340 o C), retention time (10min, 30min, 50 min) and total solid (TS) content (5%, 15%, 25%) were studied. The maximum liquefied fraction was 87.89% and the highest biocrude yield reached 34.44%with a higher heating valueof 40.29 MJ/kg. Experimental results showed that 54% of carbon in the human feces was migrated to the biocrude oil while72% of nitrogen wasreleased to the aqueous phase. In addition, most of heavy and alkaline-earth metal elements in the human feces, including Ca (89%), Mg (81%), Al (88%), Fe (72%) and Zn (94%) were distributedin the solid residue, whereas K (89%) and Na (73%) were mainly dissolved into the aqueous phase.This study demonstrated thatthe efficient degradation of human waste via HTL without any pretreatment and its potential for the valorization in biocrude oil as well as separated nutrients and metals.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is considered to be a promising route for biofuel production from wet biomass.