Abstract
Biomass is often referred to as a carbon–neutral energy source, and it has a role in reducing fossil fuel depletion. In addition, biomass can be converted efficiently into various forms of biofuels. The biomass conversion processes involve several thermochemical, biochemical, and hydrothermal methods for biomass treatment integration. The most common conversion routes to produce biofuels include pyrolysis and gasification processes. On the other hand, supercritical water gasification (SCWG) and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) are best suitable for converting biomass and waste with high moisture content. Despite promising efficiencies, SCWG and HTL processes introduce operational issues as obstacles to the industrialization of these technologies. The issues include process safety aspects due to operation conditions, plugging due to solid deposition, corrosion, pumpability of feedstock, catalyst sintering and deactivation, and high production costs. The methods to address these issues include various reactor configurations to avoid plugging and optimizing process conditions to minimize other issues. However, there are only a few studies investigating the operational issues as the main scope, and reviews are seldomly available in this regard. Therefore, further research is required to address operational problems. This study reviews the main operational problems in SCWG and HTL. The objective of this study is to enhance the industrialization of these processes by investigating the operational issues and the potential solutions, i.e., contributing to the elimination of the obstacles. A comprehensive study on the operational issues provides a holistic overview of the biomass conversion technologies and biorefinery concepts to promote the industrialization of SCWG and HTL.
Highlights
Increasing energy demand due to the world population growth and rising prosperity represents a real challenge in current times
Renewable energy consumption has increased more than 10% annually in the European Union (EU) countries, approximately one-fourth of the global renewable energy consumption
The objective of this study is to investigate the operational issues and the potential solutions comprehensively, i.e., contributing to the definition and elimination of the obstacles for the industrialization of supercritical water gasification (SCWG) and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) processes
Summary
Increasing energy demand due to the world population growth and rising prosperity represents a real challenge in current times. Processing 1st-generation biomass might cause carbon emissions equal to or even more than fossil-based production when the plant growth steps are considered [10], despite relatively simple processes and close-to-uniform feedstock [11, 12]. The main hydrothermal processes include supercritical water gasification (SCWG) and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), producing syngas and bio-oil respectively These processes are more energy-efficient than the thermal processes producing the same products, i.e., pyrolysis and thermal gasification, for biomass. The objective of this study is to investigate the operational issues and the potential solutions comprehensively, i.e., contributing to the definition and elimination of the obstacles for the industrialization of SCWG and HTL processes. A comprehensive study on the operational issues provides a holistic overview of the biomass conversion technologies and biorefinery concepts to promote the industrialization of SCWG and HTL. Research on constraints due to operational issues provides a framework for integrating these processes into biorefineries and for evaluating the economic and environmental performances
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
