Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Kraft Lignin in Subcritical Water: Influence of Phenol as Capping Agent
Journal article, 2018

The depolymerization of LignoBoost Kraft lignin in subcritical water, i.e. hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), was investigated using ZrO 2 , K 2 CO 3 , and KOH as catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor with recirculation. Focus was placed on the effect exerted by the concentration of the phenol in suppressing repolymerization, which is responsible for forming char. Feeds with various concentrations of phenol (2-10%) were investigated, and the results showed that phenol partially prevents repolymerization even at low concentrations. The bio-oil yield of (61.0 ± 2.7) % was fairly stable when the concentration of phenol was varied. In the case of the formation of char on the catalyst, the char yield revealed a weakly decreasing trend (14.6-12.3%) when the amount of phenol in the feed was increased. The results also showed that the phenolic monomers that are alkylated, such as o-/p-cresols, increased significantly with increasing concentrations of phenol, while aromatic compounds, based on a guaiacol ring structure, showed decreasing trends.

Author

Tallal Belkheiri

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Sven-Ingvar Andersson

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Cecilia Mattsson

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

L. Olausson

Valmet

Hans Theliander

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Lennart Vamling

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Energy & Fuels

0887-0624 (ISSN) 1520-5029 (eISSN)

Vol. 32 5 5923-5932

Subject Categories

Chemical Process Engineering

Other Chemical Engineering

Bioenergy

DOI

10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b00068

More information

Latest update

2/11/2021