Monday, May 5, 2008
9-17

A continuous plug-flow system for hydrothermal processing of aqueous biomass

Kevin Hennessy1, Bo Zhang2, Changyan Yang1, Paul Chen1, and Roger Ruan1. (1) Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55108, (2) BioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Avenue, Suite 140, St. Paul, MN 55108

Dwindling supplies and rising fuel costs spell changes in the way we as a society will view energy in the future.  Maximizing the energy value in renewable waste products is one way to supplement some of the energy which we might have historically had to derive from fossil resources.

 We have been working to develop a continuous system for the hydrothermal processing of biomass slurries. This process is expected to be very fast and save the energy that is otherwise spent on pre-drying of biomass for most of the current thermochemical processes. This presentation will provide an update on the progress of the design and construction of the reactor system and preliminary test results with the system. A description of the system’s operation and resultant products will be given.  The energy balance for the system will be analyzed in terms of energy input compared to the energy value of the products. Potential applications of the technology in producing energy from a number of renewable sources will be discussed.


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