Depleting petroleum reserves together with the associated environmental concerns have intensified the exploration of alternatives to petroleum. Wet food processing wastes present promising bioresources for liquid fuel production via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) followed by additional upgrading. In this study, tomato plant waste (TPW) was utilized as a feedstock for the production of bio-crude oils via HTL at medium-temperature (220-280 • C) in water or a water-ethanol (17/3, v/v) medium in a 600 mL autoclave reactor. Effects of various operating parameters, such as catalysts (H 2 SO 4 or KOH), reaction time (15-60 min) and reaction temperature (220-280 • C) on product yields were investigated. This study showed that a high yield (45.1 wt%) of bio-crude oil was achieved from HTL of TPW in water-ethanol medium at 250 • C in the presence of acid catalyst H 2 SO 4 . The oil, gas and solid residue (SR) products were analyzed for their chemical and structural properties.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.