Process water recirculation for catalytic hydrothermal carbonization of anaerobic digestate: Water-Energy-Nutrient Nexus

Mingjing He; Yang Cao; Zibo Xu; Siming You; Roger Ruan; Bin Gao; Ka Hing Wong; Daniel C.W. Tsang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127694

Process water recirculation for catalytic hydrothermal carbonization of anaerobic digestate: Water-Energy-Nutrient Nexus

Mingjing He, Yang Cao, Zibo Xu, Siming You, Roger Ruan, Bin Gao, Ka Hing Wong, Daniel C.W. Tsang

Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

The process water (PW) from acid-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is still an environmental burden due to the enriched organics, nutrients, and salts. This study proposed a novel strategy to valorize food waste digestate into multifunctional hydrochar by recirculating the PW in the HCl-catalyzed HTC process. The produced multifunctional hydrochar could be utilized as a high-quality solid fuel with HHV of 27.9 MJ kg⁻¹ (hydrochar without PW recirculation) and a slow-release fertilizer by converting the complex Ca and P compounds from the food waste digestate into a Ca-P deposit (hydroxyapatite) with more than a 93 % P recovery rate (hydrochar with PW recirculation). Adding fresh HCl in the HTC PW recirculation system only displayed a marginal catalytic impact on the hydrochar properties after two cycles of recirculation. This study demonstrated the importance of inherent Ca in the feedstocks and the dual role of HCl in the HTC with PW recirculation.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	127694
Journal	Bioresource Technology
Volume	361
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127694
State	Published - Oct 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors appreciate the financial support from the Hong Kong Environment and Conservation Fund (Project 101/2020).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Anaerobic digestate
Food waste hydrochar
Sustainable bioenergy
Waste valorization
Wastewater reuse

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Journal Article

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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title = "Process water recirculation for catalytic hydrothermal carbonization of anaerobic digestate: Water-Energy-Nutrient Nexus",

abstract = "The process water (PW) from acid-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is still an environmental burden due to the enriched organics, nutrients, and salts. This study proposed a novel strategy to valorize food waste digestate into multifunctional hydrochar by recirculating the PW in the HCl-catalyzed HTC process. The produced multifunctional hydrochar could be utilized as a high-quality solid fuel with HHV of 27.9 MJ kg−1 (hydrochar without PW recirculation) and a slow-release fertilizer by converting the complex Ca and P compounds from the food waste digestate into a Ca-P deposit (hydroxyapatite) with more than a 93 % P recovery rate (hydrochar with PW recirculation). Adding fresh HCl in the HTC PW recirculation system only displayed a marginal catalytic impact on the hydrochar properties after two cycles of recirculation. This study demonstrated the importance of inherent Ca in the feedstocks and the dual role of HCl in the HTC with PW recirculation.",

keywords = "Anaerobic digestate, Food waste hydrochar, Sustainable bioenergy, Waste valorization, Wastewater reuse",

author = "Mingjing He and Yang Cao and Zibo Xu and Siming You and Roger Ruan and Bin Gao and Wong, {Ka Hing} and Tsang, {Daniel C.W.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors appreciate the financial support from the Hong Kong Environment and Conservation Fund (Project 101/2020). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Ltd",

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AU - He, Mingjing

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AU - Xu, Zibo

AU - You, Siming

AU - Ruan, Roger

AU - Gao, Bin

AU - Wong, Ka Hing

AU - Tsang, Daniel C.W.

PY - 2022/10

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N2 - The process water (PW) from acid-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is still an environmental burden due to the enriched organics, nutrients, and salts. This study proposed a novel strategy to valorize food waste digestate into multifunctional hydrochar by recirculating the PW in the HCl-catalyzed HTC process. The produced multifunctional hydrochar could be utilized as a high-quality solid fuel with HHV of 27.9 MJ kg−1 (hydrochar without PW recirculation) and a slow-release fertilizer by converting the complex Ca and P compounds from the food waste digestate into a Ca-P deposit (hydroxyapatite) with more than a 93 % P recovery rate (hydrochar with PW recirculation). Adding fresh HCl in the HTC PW recirculation system only displayed a marginal catalytic impact on the hydrochar properties after two cycles of recirculation. This study demonstrated the importance of inherent Ca in the feedstocks and the dual role of HCl in the HTC with PW recirculation.

AB - The process water (PW) from acid-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is still an environmental burden due to the enriched organics, nutrients, and salts. This study proposed a novel strategy to valorize food waste digestate into multifunctional hydrochar by recirculating the PW in the HCl-catalyzed HTC process. The produced multifunctional hydrochar could be utilized as a high-quality solid fuel with HHV of 27.9 MJ kg−1 (hydrochar without PW recirculation) and a slow-release fertilizer by converting the complex Ca and P compounds from the food waste digestate into a Ca-P deposit (hydroxyapatite) with more than a 93 % P recovery rate (hydrochar with PW recirculation). Adding fresh HCl in the HTC PW recirculation system only displayed a marginal catalytic impact on the hydrochar properties after two cycles of recirculation. This study demonstrated the importance of inherent Ca in the feedstocks and the dual role of HCl in the HTC with PW recirculation.

KW - Anaerobic digestate

KW - Food waste hydrochar

KW - Sustainable bioenergy

KW - Waste valorization

KW - Wastewater reuse

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Process water recirculation for catalytic hydrothermal carbonization of anaerobic digestate: Water-Energy-Nutrient Nexus

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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UN SDGs

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