Abstract
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a useful method to convert wet biomass to value-added products. Fruit waste generated in juice industries is a huge source of moist feedstock for such conversion to produce hydrochar. This paper deals with four types of fruit wastes as feedstocks for HTC; namely, rotten apple (RA), apple chip pomace (ACP), apple juice pomace (AJP), and grape pomace (GP). The operating conditions for HTC processing were 190 °C, 225 °C, and 260 °C for 15 min. For all samples, higher heating value and fixed carbon increased, while volatile matter and oxygen content decreased after HTC. Except for ACP, the ash content of all samples increased after 225 °C. For RA, AJP, and GP, the possible explanation for increased ash content above 225 °C is that the hydrochar increases in porosity after 230 °C. It was observed that an increase in HTC temperature resulted in an increase in the mass yield for RA and GP, which is in contrast with increasing HTC temperature for lignocellulose biomass. Other characterization tests like thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) also showed that the HTC process can be successfully used to convert fruit wastes into valuable products.
Highlights
One of the major concerns for energy policymakers is the uneven distribution of energy resources around the globe
About a 20% increase in the carbon content and a 20% decrease in oxygen content were observed for all fruit waste samples after the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process at 260 ◦ C for 15 min
A comprehensive characterization of the hydrochars obtained from HTC on different types of fruit waste was performed
Summary
One of the major concerns for energy policymakers is the uneven distribution of energy resources around the globe. In Canada, 2.42 billion kilograms of fruit and vegetables are discarded each year, which accounts for 40% of Canada’s whole food waste. Fruits and vegetables often contain high amounts of moisture, making their conversion through thermochemical processes such as torrefaction, gasification, and pyrolysis unjustified due to the high energy requirement for drying the biomass at the beginning of these processes [3]. By contrast, another type of thermochemical process named hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), which is a recent development, can overcome this problem since the moisture (water) is not an impediment and is even
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