(481d) Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Bagasse for H2, Bio-Oil and High Value Products

Vinod S Amar, Anuradha Shende, Bharath K Maddipudi and Rajesh V Shende* Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, United States of America

Corresponding Author: *Rajesh Shende, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, United States of America (E-mail: Rajesh.Shende@sdsmt.edu)

Abstract

Beer bagasse (spent brewer grain), a by-product generated in breweries, is rich in fiber and proteins. Being a low-cost biomass substrate, in this research, we investigated hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of bagasse for the production of H₂, bio-oil and other value-added products. HTL of beer bagasse was performed at 250-300^oC under non-catalytic and catalytic conditions with bagasse to solvent (B:S) ratios of 1:5, 1:10, and 1:30. While HTL reaction was in progress, the product gases were analyzed using GC. After HTL reaction, biocrude was separated from the biochar and analyzed using HPLC, GC-MS and TOC analyzer. The HTL derived light bio-oil (LBO) and heavy bio-oil (HBO) were blended with biodiesel prepared from the spent cooking oil. HHVs of biochar, LBO, HBO, and blended fuels were calculated based on their elemental analysis. The results obtained with H₂, bio-oils, blend fuels, and value-added products from the HTL of beer bagasse will be presented.