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CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Water leaching for improving fuel properties of pongamia Pod: Informing process design
Fuel (Guildford), Vol.305, p.121480
12/01/2021
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/120312
Appears in Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT)
Abstract
•The first investigation of leaching treatment of pongamia pod is reported.•The leaching process effectively removed water-soluble inorganic species from the pods.•Removal of K by leaching shifted the reactivity of the pods toward higher temperatures.•The leachate can be reused to treat successive batches of pods, but limited to 2–3 cycles.•The combined leaching and torrefaction of pods resulted in improved fuel properties.
Pongamia seedpods are recognized as a potential feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel production due to the relatively high oil content of the seeds. Pongamia pods are byproduct residues available after seed separation. Pods have high chlorine and potassium content that may be problematic in thermochemical energy conversion systems. Leaching experiments were performed to remove inorganic constituents of pods and thereby reduce the potential for fouling, slagging, and agglomeration. A 23 factorial design determined the impacts of process operating parameters (i.e. rinse water temperature (25 °C vs. 75 °C), rinse duration (10 min vs. 2 h), and particle size (<2 mm vs. whole pod)) on the composition and physicochemical properties of the pods and the water. The higher heating value of the pods was found to increase from 16 to 18–19 MJ/kg after leaching, while the ash content was reduced from 6.5% to as low as 2.8%wt, with significant removal of sulfur (S), chlorine (Cl), and potassium (K). The chemical oxygen demand, non-purgeable organic carbon, and total nitrogen of the post-experiment leachates were all found to increase with the rinse water temperature and rinse duration but decrease with the increase of particle size. Leached pods were further processed via torrefaction and the targeted mass and energy yields, ~70% and 85%, respectively, were reached at a process temperature of 270 °C. The S, Cl, and K contents of the leached, torrefied pods were found to be lower than that of the raw pods. The reuse of leachate on successive batches of fresh pods showed that ash removal efficiency was reduced after three cycles, although some removal was possible through 15 cycles.
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Details
- Title
- Water leaching for improving fuel properties of pongamia Pod: Informing process design
- Creators
- Jinxia Fu - Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USAGabriel Allen - Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USASarah Weber - Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USAScott Q Turn - Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USAWilliam Kusch - TerViva, Inc., Oakland, CA 94612, USA
- Publication Details
- Fuel (Guildford), Vol.305, p.121480
- Academic Unit
- Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT); Alternative Jet Fuel
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Grants
- 13-C-AJFE-UH-05, 07, 08, 11, 13, Federal Aviation Administration (United States, Washington) - FAA
- Identifiers
- 99900620471301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article