This research focuses on investigating the use of common biofuel grasses to assess their potential as agents of long-term remediation of contaminated soils using lead as a model heavy metal ion. We present evidence demonstrating that switch grass and Timothy grass may be potentially useful for long-term phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soils and describe novel techniques to track and remove contaminants from inception to useful product. Enzymatic digestion and thermochemical approaches are being used to convert this lignocellulosic feedstock into useful product (sugars, ethanol, biocrude oil+biochar). Preliminary studies on enzymatic hydrolysis and fast pyrolysis of the Switchgrass materials that were grown in heavy metal contaminated soil and non-contaminated soils show that the presence of lead in the Switchgrass material feedstock does not adversely affect the outcomes of the conversion processes. These results indicate that the modest levels of contaminant uptake allow these grass species to serve as phytoremediation agents as well as feedstocks for biofuel production in areas degraded by industrial pollution.
This study investigates the use of spent mushroom compost (SMC) as a potential feedstock for the production of bio-oil via fast pyrolysis process. It was found that, although SMC can be converted to bio-oil, due to its high moisture and ash contents, fast pyrolysis of SMC results in low yield and quality of bio-oil. Reduction of the moisture and ash contents in SMC is the key element to make SMC a desirable feedstock for biomass conversion. This investigation has revealed that pyrolysis of SMC that has been treated by a combination of hydrolysis and torrefaction processes results in a higher yield of bio-oil production. The biomass that was only pretreated with torrefaction produces a lower yield of bio-oil compared to those that have been hydrolyzed or hydrolyzed then torrefied.
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