Evaluation of sugar cane bagasse hydrothermal liquefaction products for co-gasification with coal as green coal pellet production

Abstract

This study investigates the production and properties of green coal pellets formed by combining hydrochar and coal in different ratios (3,1, 1:1, and 1:3). It was found that higher ratios of hydrochar to coal resulted in increased mechanical strength of the green coal pellets, highlighting the binding properties inherent in hydrochar. Furthermore, all the green coal and hydrochar pellets exhibited remarkable hydrophobic qualities. Among the different ratios tested, the green coal pellets composed of equal amounts of hydrochar and coal demonstrated the most favourable pyrolysis behaviour based on these indices. The gasification reactivities (R50%) at 1000 °C were measured as 107.9 min−1 for hydrochar pellets, 28.2 min−1 for sugarcane bagasse pellets, and 17.7 min−1 for coal. By blending coal with hydrochar, the green coal pellets exhibited improved pyrolysis and gasification properties compared to coal alone. Notably, the synergistic effect observed in the green coal samples increased with higher ratios of hydrochar.