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Pretreatment of wood flour slurries prior to liquefaction
Author(s) -
Vanasse C.,
Lemonnier J. P.,
Eugène D.,
Chornet E.,
Overend R. P.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450660115
Subject(s) - slurry , liquefaction , fractionation , pulp and paper industry , materials science , biomass (ecology) , chemistry , composite material , chemical engineering , chromatography , agronomy , organic chemistry , engineering , biology
As part of the UDES‐S solvolytic approach to wood fractionation and liquefaction, a pretreatment stage has been developed using a fed batch technique to produce high solids content slurries. By using a combination of temperature and shear stress across homogenizing valves, wood flour slurries of Populus spp having concentrations of 20‐32% by weight in both paraffin oil and ethylene glycol have been produced. Optical and scanning electron microscopy have shown that the recirculation loop and homogenizing valve cause structural degradation, defibration and defibrillation of the original particles as well as partial solubilization of the wood components. The maximum wood flour concentration, attainable before plugging was observed in the small scale system used, was just below 36% by weight. High concentration slurries are a prerequisite in order to obtain realistic reactor space velocities in biomass liquefaction processes.