Single Pellet Research Articles

Elastic and cracking behaviour of MX80 bentonite pellet at various suctions in uniaxial compression

MX80 bentonite pellet/powder mixture has been considered as a candidate sealing/filling material in geological high-level radioactive waste disposal. As a single pellet can play an important role in the global hydro-mechanical behaviour of the mixture, the compression behaviour of a single MX80 pellet was investigated by performing uniaxial compression tests on cylinder-shaped pellets at different initial suctions, imposed by the vapour equilibrium technique. Large cracks were observed at suctions ≤ 9 MPa. Results from the compression tests showed that the axial strain εaxial contributed to the contractancy, whereas the lateral strain εlateral contributed to the dilatancy. The uniaxial shear strength σa, max, the crack closure (CC) stress σcc, the crack initiation (CI) stress σci, the crack damage (CD) stress σcd and the Young's modulus E were found to decrease with decreasing suction, providing evidence of the suction effect through softening and cracking. CI was considered as the inflection point of Δεlateral and the onset of dilatancy. Because of the combined effects of suction and wetting-induced cracks, the Poisson's ratios v increased until the suction decreased to 38–25 MPa, and then decreased with further suction decrease. Loading closed the wetting-induced horizontal cracks at suctions ≤ 9 MPa, leading to a drop of εlateral before CC.

On the Kinetic Mechanisms of the Reduction and Oxidation Reactions of Iron Oxide/Iron Pellets for a Hydrogen Storage Process

This work aims at investigating the kinetic mechanisms of the reduction/oxidation (redox) reactions of iron oxide/iron pellets under different operating conditions. The reaction principle is the basis of a thermochemical hydrogen storage system. To simulate the charging phase, a single pellet consisting of iron oxide (90% Fe2O3, 10% stabilising cement) is reduced with different hydrogen (H2) concentrations at temperatures between 600 and 800 °C. The discharge phase is initiated by the oxidation of the previously reduced pellet by water vapour (H2O) at different concentrations in the same temperature range. In both reactions, nitrogen (N2) is used as a carrier gas. The redox reactions have been experimentally measured in a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) at a flow rate of 250 mL/min. An extensive literature review has been conducted on the existing reactions’ kinetic mechanisms along with their applicability to describe the obtained results. It turned out that the measured kinetic results can be excellently described with the so-called shrinking core model. Using the geometrical contracting sphere reaction mechanism model, the concentration- and temperature-dependent reduction and oxidation rates can be reproduced with a maximum deviation of less than 5%. In contrast to the reduction process, the temperature has a smaller effect on the oxidation reaction kinetics, which is attributed to 71% less activation energy (Ea,Re=56.9 kJ/mol versus Ea,Ox=16.0 kJ/mol). The concentration of the reacting gas showed, however, an opposite trend: namely, to have an almost twofold impact on the oxidation reaction rate constant compared to the reduction rate constant.

Diffusion as a Means to Determine the Variability of Adsorption Properties on HiSiV3000 Single Pellets

Diffusion as a Means to Determine the Variability of Adsorption Properties on HiSiV3000 Single Pellets

The potential use of cold-bonded lightweight aggregate derived from various types of biomass fly ash for preparation of lightweight concrete

• Cold-bonded artificial lightweight aggregate was produced from biomass fly ash. • Strength of artificial aggregate was compared to expanded clay aggregate. • Artificial aggregates could be applied as reinforcement for lightweight concretes. This paper explores the potential use of various types of biomass fly ash (FA); palm oil (P-FA), wood chip (W-FA), bagasse (BA-FA), and rice husk (R-FA), as raw material for lightweight aggregate formed by cold-bonded pelletization (CBP) for the first time. The results suggest it is possible to form 756–881 kg/m 3 lightweight aggregate with 20.30–28.84% water absorption, using FA and 10% Portland cement type 1 (PC). Single pellet crushing strength of 4–8 mm BA-FA and W-FA aggregates were 272.97 N and 194.82 N, making it comparable in strength to a commercially available ECA. The high strength of CBP aggregates was attributed to the SAI values, SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 content of the ashes. Compressive strength of lightweight concrete reinforced with CBP biomass ash aggregate was found to be as high as 19.65 MPa.

Concept for a multi-purpose EU-DEMO pellet launching system

Pellets - mm-size solid bodies produced from frozen fuel – are mainly destined for fuelling purposes in the fusion reactor EU-DEMO. However, pellets have been proven capable tools for further tasks too, e.g. ELM frequency control and the efficient delivery of seeding gases have been already demonstrated. Here, a concept is presented for a single pellet launcher based on a stop-cylinder centrifuge accelerator equipped with multiple pellet sources. The sources can deliver pellets with different sizes and composition, finally combined into one single compound pellet train. Thus, the pellet launching system (PLS) is capable to control simultaneously different plasma parameters with a minimized cross talk between these different actuations. Currently, a new PLS is under development for the new large superconducting tokamak device JT-60SA which can be potentially regarded as a prototype for the envisaged EU-DEMO system. Its initial configuration will be capable to control plasma density and ELM pacing simultaneously; optionally a source for doped pellets can be added. Status and recent achievements of this systems are reported. At the full metal wall mid-size tokamak ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), work is ongoing developing a versatile control strategy and corresponding tools. Capable to inject pellets with high speed through a guiding tube from the torus inboard side, AUG represents a fully reactor relevant configuration. While all demonstrations have been performed with a single pellet source hence bound to actuation prioritizing one actuation parameter, all tools developed can be expanded straightforwardly to multi-purpose control. For example, one novel tool optimizes real-time feedback pellet flux control taking into account the discrete nature of the pellets. As well, a solution is worked to handle the issue of missed-out pellets. Such failed pellets are considered unavoidable due to the fragile nature of the solid fuel but identified as significant hazard for reactor burn control.

Development of Genetic Markers for Sex and Individual Identification of the Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista leucogenys) by an Efficient Method Using High-Throughput DNA Sequencing.

DNA markers that detect differences in the number of microsatellite repeats can be highly effective for genotyping individuals that lack differences in external morphology. However, isolation of sequences with different microsatellite repeat numbers between individuals has been a time-consuming process in the development of DNA markers. Individual identification of Japanese giant flying squirrels (Petaurista leucogenys) has been challenging because this species is arboreal and nocturnal and exhibits little to no morphological variation between individuals. In this study, we developed DNA markers for sex and individual identification of this species by an efficient method using high-throughput DNA sequence data. Paired-end 5 Gb (2 × 250 bp) and 15 Gb (2 × 150 bp) genome sequences were determined from a female and a male Japanese giant flying squirrel, respectively. We searched SRY and XIST genes located on Y and X chromosomes, respectively, from high-throughput sequence data and designed primers to amplify these genes. Using these primer sets, we succeeded to identify the sex of individuals. In addition, we selected 12 loci containing microsatellites with different numbers of repeats between two individuals from the same data set, and designed primers to amplify these sequences. Twenty individuals from nine different locations were discriminated using these primer sets. Furthermore, both sex and microsatellite markers were amplified from DNA extracted non-invasively from single fecal pellet samples. Based on our results for flying squirrels, we expect our efficient method for developing non-invasive high-resolution individual- and sex-specific genotyping to be applicable to a diversity of mammalian species.

Green hydrogen production based on the co-combustion of wood biomass and porous media

The production of green hydrogen by utilizing wood pellets is an effective way to solve the problem of energy shortage and environmental pollution. In order to improve the hydrogen production efficiency of biomass, a co-combustion system of inert porous media and wood pellets was built, and the combustion characteristic of wood pellets was studied with different porous media structures. The results demonstrated that the increasing of air velocity was beneficial to increase the combustion temperature, and hydrogen production reached the maximum value at v = 4 cm/s. Meanwhile, the hydrogen production increased with the increasing of inert bed length due to the intensification of heat circulation. When the length ratio of the hybrid to inert bed was 6: 3, the lower heating value of syngas was 3.69 MJ/Nm3 and the molar fraction of hydrogen increased by 69 % compared to the single wood pellets combustion. Moreover, the decreasing of pellets diameter was conducive to increase syngas production. The co-combustion of inert porous media and wood pellets realized the efficient utilization of biomass, and maximum growth rate of hydrogen reached 142 %.

Hot-tail electrons’ impact on assimilation and injection penetration of D2 shattered pellet injections

The assimilation and the penetration of injected materials play significant roles in the mitigation efficiency of shattered pellet injection (SPI) as a disruption mitigation system (DMS), hence an accurate description of the fragment ablation rate is desirable. Current mainstream 3D MHD codes modelling SPIs mostly assume instantaneous thermalization between the previously hot ambient electrons and the newly released cold electrons. This could result in underestimation of the ablation rate if the hot electron thermalization time is comparable or even longer than the fragment flying time across flux tubes, putting the validity of these 3D SPI simulations into question. To resolve this doubt, we hereby investigate the thermalization dynamics and the overall hot-electron impact. The finite-time collisional thermalization of hot-tail electrons in a rapidly cooling plasma, as well as the so-called ‘self-limiting’ effect are considered. The former effect tends to deplete the colder population within a hot-tail species, while the latter is found to preferentially deplete the higher energy population. The combined result is found to cause an almost self-similar decay of the hot electron distribution function, while its shape does not deviate much from that of Maxwellian distribution and the mean energy does not change much during the thermalization process. Based on this observation, axisymmetric JOREK D2 SPI simulations were carried out with additional hot-tail contribution to evaluate their overall impact onto the injection assimilation and penetration. It is found that the hot-tail effect indeed causes enhanced assimilation and shallower penetration, although the overall effect depends on the exact injection configuration, with the slow injection showing negligible hot-tail effect while the fast single non-shattered pellet case shows drastic hot-tail ablation enhancement. For ITER-like SPI parameters, there is no significant deviation in the total assimilation, but some deviation in the injection penetration is observed for the fast injection velocity cases.

Kinetic Mechanism Development for the Direct Reduction of Single Hematite Pellets in H2/CO Atmospheres

Increasing interest in the direct reduction process of iron ore has revived investigations on gaseous and heterogeneous iron oxides’ kinetics. Despite extensive studies on the reduction of iron oxides with pure hydrogen or syngas, the development of a generic reduction mechanism for iron oxides is still lacking. The conventional shrinking core model hardly distinguishes between transport and reaction processes, leading to biases or even errors in the kinetic models. In the present study, a porous solid model, which solves mass balances of the individual gas‐phase species and solid ones assuming spherical symmetry, is used for developing a heterogeneous kinetic mechanism accounting for different iron oxidation stages (Fe2O3, Fe3O4, FeO). It also accounts for carbon accumulation and cementite formation to model the carburization phenomena when using carbon‐containing reducing agents like syngas. The proposed generic mechanism successfully reproduces 49 experimental data sets from the literature for single iron oxide pellets’ isothermal reduction with syngas of varying hydrogen content up to pure hydrogen without any adjustment of its parameters. The model predictions are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. Finally, the carburization kinetics are explained, and the factors (e.g., temperature, hydrogen content) affecting the carbon deposition are analyzed.

3D printed co-precipitated Ni-Al CO2 methanation catalysts by Binder Jetting: Fabrication, characterization and test in a single pellet string reactor

The Binder Jetting 3D printing technique was used to fabricate spherical Ni-Al CO2 methanation catalysts from co-precipitated catalyst precursor powder. Catalysts with different nickel loadings were prepared by varying the molar Ni/Al ratio (1/1, 2/1, 3/1, 5/1) during precipitation or the amount of admixed precursor powder (10, 20, 30 wt.%) for printing. XRD and TG analysis revealed phase composition and reducibility characteristics analogous to conventionally prepared Ni-Al catalysts. TEM displayed nickel particle sizes as small as 3.9 nm with a Ni dispersion of up to 13.4 % determined by H2 chemisorption. Moreover, meso- and macroporous catalyst pellets were generated with a specific surface area of up to 192 m2∕gcat. The catalysts NiAl11–20, NiAl21–20 and NiAl51–20 were exemplarily tested in a single pellet string reactor where CO2 conversions of up to 99 % and a high selectivity towards CH4 was observed at ptot = 9 bar upon reaching thermodynamic equilibrium.

Temporal, spatial and molecular pattern of dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the AAV-A53T α-synuclein rat model of Parkinson’s disease

Degeneration of the nigrostriatal tract is a neuropathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD). A differential intraneuronal vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons within the substantia nigra (SN) has been suggested, starting as an axonopathy followed by neuronal cell loss that is accompanied with motor deficits. To date, there is no therapy available to delay or halt this neurodegeneration. Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like-2 factor (Nrf2) and histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) are crucial molecular regulators that undergo nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling and are involved in regulation of axonal and perikarya degeneration of neurons under various pathologic conditions. We here aimed to analyze the time course of dopaminergic neurodegeneration in an AAV PD rat model overexpressing human mutated A53T α-synuclein (haSyn), differentially correlate striatal terminal and SN perikarya loss with behavioral deficits and investigate if nucleo-cytoplasmic Nrf2 and HDAC1 expression are altered in dopaminergic perikarya of the haSyn PD rat model. We observed impaired motor performance in haSyn PD rats assessed by the single pellet reaching task at four- and six-weeks post AAV injection (P < 0.05 each). However, only striatal terminal loss correlated significantly with motor deficits in haSyn PD rats, indicating that parkinsonian motor features reflect the striatal dopaminergic denervation, but cannot be taken as an indirect measure of neurodegeneration per se. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated an upregulation of HDAC1 in the dopaminergic cell nucleus (P < 0.05) while no changes were observed for Nrf2. These data suggest a critical functional role of the axonopathy on motor behavior in haSyn PD rats and mechanistically point towards an impaired nucleo-cytoplasmic translocation of HDAC1 and thus a potential role of disturbed histone acetylation in neurodegeneration.

Development of a Porous Solid Model for the Direct Reduction of Iron Ore Pellets

The direct reduction of iron ore pellets with syngas or hydrogen is a promising technology to reduce the CO2 emissions of the iron and steel industry. The conversion rate of single iron ore pellets to iron is extensively investigated. In most of these studies, a shrinking core model is employed to reproduce the experimental observations. However, this model presents an inherent bias by assuming a sharp separation between a fully converted region and a fully unreacted one. Herein the present study, an improved porous solid model is proposed. This model solves the mass balances of the individual gas species and the solid ones assuming spherical symmetry. The governing equations, the main algorithm, and validation cases are presented. The present model also offers wide flexibility to incorporate complex phenomena such as porosity changes or carbon deposition. Furthermore, the proposed model is integrated into a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) environment. It is verified that identical input parameters yield almost identical results in both frameworks, opening the gate toward reliable CFD simulations of industrial‐scale reactors.

Pellet gun trauma: An unusual and unexpected type of bone lesion

Non-powder guns in general, and especially pellet guns are acknowledged to cause important injuries, also on bone tissue. However, pellet gun-related injuries have been poorly analyzed in forensic literature and scientists may have no idea of what signs a pellet gun can leave on bone. Moreover, since such lesions are not commonly encountered in everyday forensic practice, they could be misdiagnosed. For this reason, the present study was performed to investigate and illustrate the qualitative effects of pellet guns on human bone. An experiment was performed by shooting single pellets on four adult human feet belonging to the anatomical collection of the University of Milan and CAL (Collezione Antropologica Labanof), that is the anthropological collection of the forensic anthropology lab (Labanof). An Umarex – “Beretta type 92 S″ CO2 gun was used, loaded with pellets of 4.5 mm caliber of different designs: wadcutter, round-nosed, and sharp-pointed. The shots were fired from a constant distance of 20–30 cm and with different directions and angles. X-ray analysis was carried out and three feet were later skeletonized and observed with an episcopic microscope. Macroscopically, a high penetrative capacity of all the used pellets was observed: with the only exception of the wadcutter ones, all the other types were associated with bone lesions, such as abrasions of the cortical bone, chipping and/or fractures, which in some cases were even comminuted. Microscopically, metallic traces, bone spicules, and striae-like irregularities on the bottom of all the bone abrasions were found. Finally, we provide forensic pathologists and anthropologists with some considerations and illustrations that may help in the correct diagnosis in case of need.

Markerless tracking enables distinction between strategic compensation and functional recovery after spinal cord injury

Injuries to the cervical spinal cord represent around 60% of all spinal cord injuries (SCIs). A major priority for patients with cervical SCIs is the recovery of any hand or arm function. The similarities between human and rodent “reach-to-eat movements” indicate that analyzing mouse forelimb reaching behavior may be a method of identifying clinically relevant treatments for people with cervical SCIs. One popular behavioral measure of forelimb functional recovery comprises the Single Pellet Retrieval Task (SPRT). The most common outcome measure for this task, however (percentage of pellets successfully retrieved), cannot readily distinguish between recovery of pre-injury motor patterns and strategic compensation. Our objective was to establish outcome measures for the SPRT that are readily adopted by different investigators and capable of measuring recovery of limb function after SCI. We used a simple semi-automated approach to high-speed tracking of mouse forepaw movements during pellet retrieval. DeepLabCut™, a machine learning based computer vision software package, was used to track individual features of the mouse forepaw, allowing a more detailed assessment of reaching behavior after SCI. Interestingly, kinematic analysis of movements pre- and post-injury illuminated persistent deficits in specific features of the reaching motor patterns, namely pronation and paw trajectory, that were poorly correlated with recovery of the ability to successfully retrieve pellets. Thus, we have developed an inexpensive method for detailed analysis of mouse reach-to-eat behavior following SCI. Further, our results suggest that binary success/fail outcome measures primarily assess an animal's ability to compensate rather than a restoration of normal function in the injured pathways and networks.

Lignin Pellets for Advanced Thermochemical Process—From a Single Pellet System to a Laboratory-Scale Pellet Mill

Lignin pellets were produced using a single pellet system as well as a laboratory-scale pellet mill. The feedstock used in this work was lignin isolated from poplar wood (Populus tremuloides) using a direct saccharification process. An investigation was performed on the influence of the initial moisture content on the dimensions, impact and water resistance, fines content, mechanical durability, calorific value, and ash content, and, finally, the ultimate analysis was performed. These properties were then compared to pellets made from softwood bark using the same pelletization unit. Lignin pellets were then manufactured using four different types of additives (corn oil, citric acid, glycerol, and d-xylose) and ultimately, they were stored in two different conditions prior being tested. In general, manufacturing pellets that were entirely made of lignin generated samples with an overall higher hydrophobicity and higher calorific value. However, the ash and sulfur content of the lignin pellets (1.58% and 0.32% in scenario 2, respectively) were slightly higher than the expected CANplus certification values for Grade A pellets of ≤0.7%, and ≤0.04%, respectively. This study intends to show that lignin could be used to produce this new kind of pellets, pending that the initial material has a low ash and moisture content.

Kinetics and percolation: coke in heterogeneous catalysts

In the conventional lattice percolation models, bonds or sites are open at random, whereas in reality there is often interplay of percolation and the kinetics under consideration. An interesting and practically important example is hydrocarbon conversion occurring in a reactor containing mm-sized porous pellets with catalytic nanoparticles deposited at walls of the nanopores. Such catalytic heterogeneous reactions are often accompanied by coke formation deactivating catalytic nanoparticles and blocking pores for reactant diffusion, so that one needs to remove coke from time to time e.g. via reaction with oxygen. Herein, I first present generic coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulations of coke formation in a single pellet with the emphasis on the reaction regime influenced by reactant diffusion in pores. Then, the obtained coke distributions are used for similar simulations of coke removal. This combination of the models has allowed me to illustrate qualitatively new spatio-temporal regimes of the processes under consideration. For example, the removal of coke can be slow in the beginning, due to blocking of oxygen diffusion near the external pellet-gas interface and preventing its penetration to the central part of a pellet, and then fast when the pathways for diffusion to the center become to be open.

Temperature effects on water retention behaviour and structural evolution of GMZ bentonite pellet mixtures

Mixtures of high-density, multi-sized bentonite pellets are considered as a promising buffer/backfill material for deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). During the operation of a HLW repository, the pellet mixtures will be subjected to ground water infiltrated from surrounding rock and elevated temperatures induced by nuclide decay heat, leading to a complex hydro-mechanical behaviour. In this paper, water retention tests with suction controlled by vapour equilibrium and osmotic techniques, as well as structural observations by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) were performed on three kinds of specimens of Gaomiaozi (GMZ) bentonite at different temperatures (20, 40, 60 and 80 °C), including constant-volume pellet mixtures (PM) and compacted blocks (CB) with an identical dry density (1.45 Mg/m3) and free-swelling single pellets with the same initial dry density (1.95 Mg/m3) as those involved in the PM specimen. For the three kinds of specimens, the water retention capacity decreased with increasing temperature. From a perspective of thermal dynamics theory, it is concluded that in high suction range (> 10 MPa), increasing temperature inhibited the water adsorption and promoted the water desorption process consequently leading to a decreasing water retention capacity. According to the capillary law (Young – Laplace equation), in the low suction range (< 10 MPa), increasing temperature reduces the capillary water content in terms of decreasing the surface tension, contact angle and density of the capillary water, as well as expanding the entrapped pore air. Meanwhile, the MIP test results illustrate that during hydration, most of the large pores (2000–360,000 nm) were gradually converted into medium pores (100–2000 nm) while the change of small pores (6.4–100 nm) and inaccessible pores (< 6.4 nm and > 360,000 nm) were limited. Compared to the effect of suction, the temperature influence on this structural evolution process was relatively slight. Therefore, the temperature-dependent water retention behaviour was mainly caused by temperature-induced changes of water-clay interactions as well as physical properties of adsorbed and capillary water during hydration, rather than the limited changes of pore structure of the specimen.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Neuroplasticity and Accelerates Motor Recovery in a Stroke Mouse Model.

More effective strategies are needed to promote poststroke functional recovery. Here, we evaluated the impact of bihemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on forelimb motor function recovery and the underlying mechanisms in mice subjected to focal ischemia of the motor cortex. Photothrombotic stroke was induced in the forelimb brain motor area, and tDCS was applied once per day for 3 consecutive days, starting 72 hours after stroke. Grid-walking, single pellet reaching, and grip strength tests were conducted to assess motor function. Local field potentials were recorded to evaluate brain connectivity. Western immunoblotting, ELISA, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Golgi-Cox staining were used to uncover tDCS-mediated stroke recovery mechanisms. Among our results, tDCS increased the rate of motor recovery, anticipating it at the early subacute stage. In this window, tDCS enhanced BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) expression and dendritic spine density in the peri-infarct motor cortex, along with increasing functional connectivity between motor and somatosensory cortices. Treatment with the BDNF TrkB (tropomyosin-related tyrosine kinase B) receptor inhibitor, ANA-12, prevented tDCS effects on motor recovery and connectivity as well as the increase of spine density, pERK (phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase), pCaMKII (phosphorylated calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II), pMEF (phosphorylated myocyte-enhancer factor), and PSD (postsynaptic density)-95. The tDCS-promoted rescue was paralleled by enhanced plasma BDNF level, suggesting its potential role as circulating prognostic biomarker. The rate of motor recovery is accelerated by tDCS applied in the subacute phase of stroke. Anticipation of motor recovery via vicariate pathways or neural reserve recruitment would potentially enhance the efficacy of standard treatments, such as physical therapy, which is often delayed to a later stage when plastic responses are progressively lower.

Modeling the devolatilization and fragmentation of biomass pellets with the bonded particle method for fluidized bed applications

By extending the bonded particle method, the major structural changes during the devolatilization of a wood pellet in a fluidized bed and the resulting mechanical behavior have been successfully reproduced. A comparison with experiments from the literature showed that the implemented particle-based pyrolysis model enables predicting the entire pellet’s kinetics with a high agreement. The developed shrinkage model for the particles and bonds further allowed to emulate the reported formation of a large-scale pore network inside the pellet. The simulation of a radial compression test with the predicted structure showed good agreement with experimental data and could confirm the importance of the pores for the mechanical behavior. The results demonstrated that the large pores cause the fragmentation of agglomerates already at low mechanical loads which could promote attrition. In general, the results have shown that the developed extension of the bonded particle method allows studying and predicting the behavior of a single pellet during conversion inside a fluidized bed gasification reactor in more detail.

Synergistic effects of process-generated organic acids during co-hydrothermal carbonization of watermelon peel and high-sulfur coal

Substandard fuel properties and high sulfur levels remained bottlenecks for the utilization of biomass and low-grade coal for energy generation. This work systematically studied the synergistic effects of co-hydrothermal carbonization (co-HTC) of watermelon peel (WP) and high-sulfur coal using process-derived organic acids. Fuel properties, desulfurization efficiency, and combustion behaviors of co-HTC derived hydrochars and fuel blends of WP hydrochar and coal prepared by the typical post-hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) blending technique were compared. The physical and chemical compositions of WP/coal hydrochars were investigated to evaluate their corresponding fuel properties. In addition, flame characteristics were studied via single pellet combustion, while the chemical compositions of residual HTC process water were examined by gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy. Note-worthily, the co-HTC derived hydrochars were characterized by higher heating values in the range of 27.3–28.8 MJ/kg and fuel ratios of 2.67–6.95. HC-3:7, HC-5:5 and HC-7:3 showed higher desulfurization efficiencies (57.9–77.7%) compared to the post-HTC blending method (8.5–33.5%). Moreover, the co-HTC derived hydrochars exhibited lower post-combustion ash contents (8.8–12.0%) compared to CC-3:7 (17.3%), CC-5:5 (17.9%) and CC-7:3 (10.5%). Remarkably, HC-5:5 demonstrated the strongest synergistic effect of 70%. The flame observation results indicated that co-HTC derived hydrochars exhibited more stable combustion flames than the post-treatment blended samples. Hence, co-HTC provides a low-cost and eco-friendly approach for converting WP and high-sulfur coal into cleaner solid fuel.