Valorisation of wet biomass for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals

各种形式的生物质废物日益增加，给管理和处置带来了严峻的问题。这些废物是多种多样和复杂的资源，其中很大一部分是非常湿的，可能含有超过70%重量的水分，这在处理和处理方面提出了一系列独特的挑战，目前只有不到一半的湿生物质废物被处理以实现其价值回收，而现有的处理方法仍然是极低的回收率。水热气化可以使用近临界或超临界水转化湿原料，在很短的处理时间内提供高（或完全）的碳转化。然而，水热剂达到理想的气化温度所需的热量可能超过原料的能量含量。该项目开发了一种新技术，利用超临界二氧化碳促进湿生物质废物的水热气化，作为一种具有成本效益的处理解决方案，用于生产生物燃料和回收营养物质。该项目将进行可行性研究，以评估能量回收潜力，量化sCO2在水热气化中的作用，并探索潜在的先进协同效应。

Biomass waste is increasing daily in various forms, creating severe problems for managing and disposing it. These waste materials are diverse and complex resources, a significant portion of which are very wet and might contain over 70% moisture by weight, this presents a unique set of challenges in its handling and processing, currently less than half the amount of wet biomass waste has been treated for its value recovery, whilst existing treatment practices are remaining an extremely low recovery rate. Hydrothermal gasification can convert wet feedstock using near-critical or supercritical water, offering high (or complete) carbon conversions with a much short processing time. However, the heat required for the hydrothermal agent to reach a desirable gasification temperature may exceed the energy content of feedstock. This project develops a novel technology that utilises supercritical CO2 to promote hydrothermal gasification of wet biomass waste, as a cost-effective processing solution, for production of biofuels and recovery of nutrients. This project will perform feasibility studies to assess the energy recovery potential, quantify the role of sCO2 plays in hydrothermal gasification, and explore potential advanced synergies.