Pongamia, a leguminous,
oilseed-bearing tree, is a potential resource
for renewable fuels in general and sustainable aviation fuel in particular.
The present work characterizes physicochemical properties of reproductive
materials (seeds and pods) from pongamia trees grown in different
environments at five locations on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA.
Proximate and ultimate analyses, heating value, and elemental composition
of the seeds, pods, and de-oiled seed cake were determined. The oil
content of the seeds and the properties of the oil were determined
using American Society for Testing and Materials and American Oil
Chemist’s Society methods. The seed oil content ranged from
19 to 33 wt % across the trees and locations. Oleic (C18:1) was the
fatty acid present in the greatest abundance (47 to 60 wt %), and
unsaturated fatty acids accounted for 77 to 83 wt % of the oil. Pongamia
oil was found to have similar characteristics as other plant seed
oils (canola and jatropha) and would be expected to be well suited
for hydroprocessed production of sustainable aviation fuel. Nitrogen-containing
species is retained in the solid phase during oil extraction, and
the de-oiled seed cake exhibited enrichment in the N content, ∼5
to 6%, in comparison with the parent seed. The pods would need further
treatment before being used as fuel for combustion or gasification
owing to the high potassium and chlorine contents.
Pilot-scale hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of biowaste is a critical step toward commercialization of the HTL technology. Despite many HTL studies conducted with wet biomass, including food waste, few were performed with a pilot-scale continuous plug-flow reactor (PFR), with the biocrude yield and quality analysis based on dewatering (ASTM D2892 Annex X1). This paper describes the development and performance evaluation of a mobile pilot-scale HTL continuous PFR, with a processing capacity of 60 L/ h of wet feedstock and 6 L/h of biocrude production. The reactor system was designed for reaction conditions of up to 325 °C and 17.25 MPa. The reactor has a volume of 28.88 L with an additional counterflow heat exchanger volume of 18.07 L. Two types of food wastes, from a food processing plant and grocery store, were processed at 280 °C for 30 min, producing biocrude oil yields of 52.19 and 47.06 wt %, energy recoveries of 68.17 and 70.77%, and carbon recoveries of 66.91 and 64.78%, respectively. Due to its high feedstock capacity and reaction volume, large amounts of biocrude oil and post-HTL wastewater (PHW) were obtained from this pilot-scale reactor to allow downstream research on upgrading biocrude oil for transportation fuel as well as PHW treatment and nutrient recovery.
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