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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #395774
Research Project: Innovative Manure Treatment Technologies and Enhanced Soil Health for Agricultural Systems of the Southeastern Coastal Plain

Location: Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research

Title: Changes in selected organic and inorganic compounds in hydrothermal carbonization (ATC) process liquid while in storage

Author
item MARZBAN, NADER - Leibniz Institute
item LIBRA, JUDY - Leibniz Institute
item ROTTER, VERA - Technical University Of Berlin
item Ro, Kyoung
item PANIAGUA, DANIELA - Leibniz Institute
item FLORNENKO, SVITLANA - Max Planck Institute For Chemistry

Submitted to: ACS Omega
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/23/2022
Publication Date: 1/19/2023
Citation: Marzban, N., Libra, J.A., Rotter, V.S., Ro, K.S., Paniagua, D.M., Flornenko, S. 2023. Changes in selected organic and inorganic compounds in hydrothermal carbonization (ATC) process liquid while in storage. ACS Omega. 8(4):4234-4243. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c07419.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c07419

Interpretive Summary: Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an emerging green technology, which can be used to valorize waste stream and convert the low-value wet biomass into value-added products such as carbonaceous solid called hydrochar, and process liquid. Although many studies have investigated the hydrothermal transformation of feedstock biomass, little is known about the changes in physico-chemical characteristics of HTC liquid products while in storage. The change in physico-chemical characteristics of HTC liquid products may reduce the amount of desired chemicals in the liquid or produce unwanted contaminants, restricting the uses for the HTC liquid products. Here we investigate the effect of storage temperature (20, 4, and -18 degrees Celsius, °C) and time (week 1-12) on changes of selected organic compounds and physico-chemical characteristics of HTC liquid product while in storage. Considerable changes take place in the composition of the liquid product at all storge temperature conditions, including deep freezing at -18 °C. Higher storage temperatures favor humification reactions resulted in increase in humic acid concentration. Since physico-chemical characteristics of HTC liquid product can change while in storage, it is important to characterize the liquid prior to its applications.

Technical Abstract: Although many studies have investigated the hydrothermal transformation of feedstock biomass, little is known about the changes in HTC liquid products over time. The change in physico-chemical characteristics of HTC liquid products may diminish the amount of desired products or produce unwanted contaminants, restricting the uses for the HTC liquid products. Here we investigate the effect of storage temperature (20, 4, and -18 degrees Celsius, °C) and time (week 1-12) on structural and compositional changes of selected organic compounds and physico-chemical characteristics of HTC process liquid. Considerable changes take place in the composition of the process liquid at all studied temperature conditions, including deep freezing at -18 °C. Prominent is the polymerization of aromatic compounds with the formation of precipitates which settle over time. This in turn influences the inorganic compounds present in the liquid phase by chelating or selectively adsorbing them. Higher storage temperatures favor humification reactions resulted in increase in humic acid concentration.