Liquefaction of sunflower husks for biochar production Piyo Nontembiso Supervisor :Prof S.Marx Co-supervisor Dr I.Chiyanzu

Presentation Outline Introduction Liquefaction: An overview Objective of the study Experimental set-up Methods Results Concluding Remarks References

Introduction Increased focus on global warming Development of feasible renewable energy source Reduction of fossil fuel dependency Biomass is the third largest energy resource, following oil and coal Clean fuel because it has negligible sulphur and nitrogen content which results in lower sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide than conventional fuels

Liquefaction: An overview Liquefaction: biomass decomposition reactions carried out in a solvent media at temperature ( °C),Pressure (5 and 20 MPa), alkaline catalysts Key principle: products with low oxygen content, high heating content & high H/C ratio Three products are produced during liquefaction Biochar carbon-rich product and a potential solid fuel Has numerous uses such as: can be combusted/gasified for heat and power activated for adsorption application applied as a soil amendment and carbon sequestration agent

Objective of the study To investigate the effect of solvents, reaction temperature and reaction atmosphere on biochar production during liquefaction of sunflower husks. Experimental setup

Methods Input variables: Liquefaction temperature °C Liquefaction reaction atmosphere: CO₂ and N₂ Reaction solvents :water, methanol, ethanol, iso-propanol and n- butanol Analytical techniques used Proximate analysis X-ray diffraction Fourier Transformed Infrared Scanning electron microscope Brunauer-Emmet-Teller Elemental analysis

Results Figure1: Effect of solvent on biochar yields under different Figure 2: Effect of temperature on biochar yields in ( CO ₂, N ₂ ) at atmospheres ( CO₂ and N₂) at 280 °C different reaction atmospheres

Results continues ………………. Table 1: Elemental analysis of biochar samples under (N₂ and CO₂ atmosphere) Figure 3: FT-IR spectra of sunflower husks and its biochar obtained at different liquefaction temperatures in CO₂ atmosphere ( Raw biomass, 260⁰C, 280⁰C, 300⁰C).

Concluding Remarks We have demonstrated that biochar properties and yields are a function of production process conditions The biochar yields were influenced in this order > by temperature > type of the solvent > reaction atmosphere. The heating value of the biochar is high (26.76 MJ/kg) and comparable to that of conventional fuel such as lignite (25.0 MJ/kg) This increases its potential to be used as fuel Sunflower husks is a promising feedstock in the production of useful products such as biochar through liquefaction Thermochemical conversion of sunflower into solid fuel like biochar may play an important role in solving the growing energy demands

References Bridgwater, A.V. & Maniatis, K The production of biofuels by the thermochemical processing of biomass, in molecular to global photosynthesis. In: Archer M.D. & Barber, J. eds. London UK: IC Press, pp Brown, R.C Thermochemical processing of biomass: Conversion into fuels, Chemicals and Powder, 1st ed., John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Demirbas, A Current activities and future developments. Energy Conversion and Management, 50: Demirbas, A A Biomass resource facilities and biomass conversion processing for fuels and chemicals. Energy Conversion and Management, 42: Horio, M Development of biomass charcoal combustion heater for household utilization. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 48(1):

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