Pressurized thermal and hydrothermal decomposition of algae, wood chip residue, and grape marc: A comparative study

Improvement in liquid fuel product quality from reactions of grape marc with CO/H2O

“…The samples were collected from a number of Australian wine regions, particularly the Barossa Valley and Riverland in South Australia and Griffith (Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area) in New South Wales and were those used in the earlier study of reaction yields [4]. The seeds (ca 90%) were separated from the small amount of skins and twigs by sieving, then air-dried for 2-3 weeks and finally crushed to <1.4 mm.…”

“…2 as error bars. The products were separated into gas, oil (hexane soluble, DCM soluble), asphaltene (hexane insoluble, DCM soluble) and DCM insolubles, and the yields of gas, oil + H 2 O and asphaltene determined as described previously [4]. The total yield of oil + water, asphaltene, and gas produced was denoted as the product yield (Eq.…”

“…The seeds (ca 90%) were separated from the small amount of skins and twigs by sieving, then air-dried for 2-3 weeks and finally crushed to <1.4 mm. The moisture content, ash yield, elemental analysis and solid state 13 C Cross-Polarization Magic Angle Spinning (CP-MAS) NMR were determined as described previously [4].…”

“…In a previous paper we have examined the production of oil from three biomass sources (algae, grape marc and Pinus radiata wood chips) by thermochemical reactions under N 2 or CO/H 2 O [4]. Algae were found to give significantly higher yields, but the cost of growing is high.…”

“…Our previous work showed that the yield of oil (hexane soluble) and asphaltene (hexane insoluble) is only a crude measure of the usefulness of the product and in fact the yield of dichloromethane soluble material (oil + asphaltene) did not change markedly with temperature or alkali addition [4]. A product useful as a fuel should have a low heteroatom content (O, N, S) and contain a large proportion of low boiling point components, principally hydrocarbons [5].…”