Evaluation of Press Mud, Vinasse Powder and Extraction Sludge with Ethanol in a Pyrolysis Process

Abstract

The effluents of the sugar and bio-ethanol industry, mainly vinasse as well as lignocellulosic waste, are produced in high volumes. Therefore, their treatment and valorization would reduce the environmental impact and make this industry more productive and competitive. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential use of press mud (lignocellulosic waste), vinasse powder, and vinasse sludge from an extraction process with ethanol, as raw materials for conventional pyrolysis evaluating the physicochemical characteristics that affect this thermochemical process, such as calorific power, density, ash content, volatile material, moisture and nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and hydrogen content, thermogravimetric profile, and quantification of lignin cellulose and hemicellulose. The batch pyrolysis experiments showed that all three wastes could be converted successfully into more valuable products. The powder vinasse led to the formation of the lowest content of bio-char (42.7%), the highest production of volatiles (61.6 wt.%), and the lowest ash content (20.5 wt.%). Besides, it showed the high heating value of 15.63 MJ/kg. Meanwhile, the extraction sludge presented the highest liquid yield (32%) with the lowest gas formation (18.2 wt.%) and the lowest heating value of 8.57 MJ/kg. Thus, the sludge could be a good feedstock for production of bio-oil and bio-char.

Characterization and Valorization of Sugarcane Press Mud in Civil Engineering Applications

“…From the table, it is clear that PM has a very high proportion of organic content. All the investigations reported significantly high values of organic content of the order of 70% and above with the exception of the work reported by Devia-Orjuela et al [28]. James and Pandian [21] also reported 65% organic content.…”

Post-Industrial Use of Sugarcane Ethanol Vinasse: A Systematic Review

“…In Marcato et al [75], the authors present a hybrid biogeochemical treatment system (stabilization, filtration, and phytoremediation) to optimize the physical and chemical characteristics of the vinasse; then, it can be used as a fertilizer in crops with a lower polluting impact. In [76], using pyrolysis, vinasse is converted into the matter for biooil and biochar production. In Bettani et al [77], the researchers produce soil fertilizer from slow-release with sugarcane vinasse and lipid-extracted microalgae (Desmodesmus subspicatus).…”

“…Sector Industrial Application [56,58,66,[73][74][75]77,79,92,97,101,103,107,117,[135][136][137]144] Agriculture Soil remediation, crop improver (e.g., corn, tomato, rice), fertigation in sugar cane, fertilizer, among others [31,33,35,37,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45]48,49,52,55,59,62,63,69,71,72,76,81,82,[84][85][86]90,91,94,96,98,99,…”

Physicochemical Properties of Sugarcane Industry Residues Aiming at Their Use in Energy Processes

“…As showed in Table 4, sugarcane Filter-cake have around 17 MJ•kg −1 of high heating value, which is proximate to the results reported for straw and bagasse in Tables 1 and 2. This indicates a high energy potential in filter cake, which could be related to a high content of proteins, sugar and fibers, giving a possibility to use this by-product for energy as with other sugarcane and woody biomasses which is normally used for thermochemical processes [56,57].…”