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Coffee grounds are considered to be a promising biomass resource due to the growth of coffee consumption and their high calorific value. In this study, we produced biocrude oil from coffee grounds in a tilted‐slide reactor, which has been previously used for the fast pyrolysis of woody biomass. Various pyrolysis temperatures were tested and the maximum biocrude oil yield was 59% at the pyrolysis temperature of 550°C with a feeding rate of coffee grounds at 17.7 kg/h. In a multistage condenser, the biocrude oil yields and properties were different in each condenser stage. The higher heating value of the biocrude oil from the primary condenser was 7,157 kcal/kg, which was about 60% higher than that from woody biomass. A phase separation was observed when the biocrude oil was stored at the atmospheric condition, and the biocrude oil viscosity became quite larger than that from woody biomass, which could even impede its flow. The viscosity decreased with increasing temperature and was more sensitive to temperature variations at lower temperatures. Mixing of ethanol also significantly improved viscosity characteristics. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 655–661, 2017

Algae are a diverse group of aquatic organisms and have a potential to produce renewable biofuel via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). This study investigated the effects of reaction environments on biocrude production from “Tetraselmis sp.” algae strain by HTL process using red mud (RM) based catalyst. The inert (N2), ethylene (C2H4), reducing (10% H2/90% N2), and oxidizing (10% O2/90% N2) environments were applied to the non-catalytic as well as catalytic HTL treatments with two forms of RM catalysts: RM reduced at 500 °C (RRM) and nickel-supported RM (Ni/RM). Under nitrogen, ethylene and reducing environments, the biocrude yield increased by the following trend: No Catalyst < RRM < Ni/RM. The Ni/RM catalyst produced the highest biocrude yield (37 wt.%) in an ethylene environment, generated the lowest total acid number (14 mg KOH/g) under inert atmosphere, and lowered sulfur (33–66%) and oxygen (18–30%) from biocrude products irrespective of environments. The RRM catalyst maximized the biocrude carbon content (61 wt.%) under a reducing environment and minimized the heavy metal and phosphorus transfer from the feedstock to biocrude in studied ambiences. The reducing environment facilitated mild hydrotreatment during HTL reaction in the presence of RRM catalyst. Among the non-catalytic experiments, the reducing atmosphere optimized carbon content (54.3 wt.%) and calorific value (28 MJ/kg) with minimum oxygen amount (27.2 wt.%) in biocrudes.

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