NEWAPProach to Biowaste

The demand for raw materials is growing rapidly worldwide. How to satisfy it in a sustainable and economic way is one of the biggest challenges of the coming years. The recently launched NEWAPP project hopes to help meet this challenge by turning wet biowastes into high-value products through hydrothermal carbonisation. by Lucía Doyle Chemical separation, water purification, catalysis, energy conversion and storage, bioimaging, fertilisation and soil remediation are high value processes based on the secondary raw materials demanded by society's current technological growth. However, the raw materials required have limited availability and the processes have high associated costs, fixed geographical locations and are carbon-based. Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC) is a means by which wet biomass is converted into carbonaceous solids at relatively high yields in water, while using pressure and temperatures at the lower region of liquefaction processes. Therefore, there is less need of energy intensive drying prior to processing, which opens up new possibilities for waste streams such as manures, sewage sludge, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) or agricultural wastes. These organic waste streams can be used as a feedstock for HTC technology, producing hydrochar and carbonaceous liquids, high value products that can be used as fuel, activated carbons for water treatment, soil remediation, carbon sequestration schemes and other applications. According to Eurostat, in 2011 the EU-27 imported carbon products worth around €22.6 billion. Meanwhile, the European Compost Network's report, Strategies for Sustainable Management of biowaste in Europe, states that the EU generates some 80 million tonnes of wet biowaste which could be effectively recycled to carbon materials by means of HTC. By researching new applications for the technology, the NEWAPP project aims to pave the way for economically and environmentally friendly attractive uses for wet biomass, while strengthening Europe's competitiveness and reducing resource dependency. The project is exploring ways to use hydrothermal carbonisation, which takes place at at 180-220°C and around 20 bars, to recover valuable materials from wet biowastes The HTC process Hydrothermal carbonisation is the 'coalification' of organic material under applied high temperatures and pressure in aqueous phase. It is a chemo-physical process for the conversion of organic material. Friedrich Bergius compiled the fundamental scientific knowledge base over 100 years ago. In 1932 his work on Chemical Reactions Under High Pressure won him the Nobel Prize. Even though HTC was discovered a century ago, it was put aside until Professor Antonietti, director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces at the University of Potsdam re-examined the work in 2004. Since then, extensive basic research has been done. However, the technology has still not been fully utilised at an industrial scale. Potential stakeholders and end-users are unaware that tailor-made products can be produced with this technology. Further, the lack of standardisation is hindering the market uptake of the products. The HTC process takes place at 180-220°C and around 20 bars, with a reaction time of between six and 12 hours. A high residence time promotes char production, while lower residence time promotes the production of liquid products. After activation, HTC is an exothermic process. At the end of the process, the solid phase - 'HTC-biochar' - can easily be separated from the water. Approximately 75% - 80% of the carbon input is found in the solid phase; about 15% – 20% is dissolved in the liquid phase, and the remaining 5% is converted to gas mainly CO2. The elemental composition and calorific value of most of the HTC-outputs are very similar to brown coals. Energy Recovery Regarding energetic valorisation of biowaste, HTC differs from combustion, gasification and pyrolysis in that the process occurs at comparatively low temperatures. It is also a simpler process and requires a wet feedstock and/or the addition of supplemental water. This means that the process can be driven economically for the conversion of feedstock with water content over 50% - 70%, opening up new valorisation possibilities for wet biowaste. In addition to this, the energetic valorisation is not the only possibility the technology offers. Research has found that its chemistry has huge potential to influence product characteristics on demand, and produce 'designer' carbon materials. Recent literature reports good performance for many different biowastes. At the same time, the final use and applications of HTC hydochar have been studied and tested, with promising results reported for applications such as fuels and chemicals, hydrogen storage, carbon sequestration, bioimaging and drug delivery, catalysis, batteries, generation of metal oxide nanostructures, water purification, carbon fuel cells and soil remediation. However, each of these studies has been conducted separately and independently, without comparable sampling procedures, methodologies or process conditions. A systematic test campaign to decipher which waste streams are best suited for which end products is still missing. Pre and post treatments are also required in some cases to upgrade the hydrochar to high value products. Furthermore, the project will address the issue of standardisation, which are needed to enable the technology and products to penetrate in the industry and markets. Organic wastes can be used to produce activated carbon which can be placed in large vessels to trap VOCs from contaminated water Credit: Carbonair Environmental NEWAPP project NEWAPP will focus on the development of new technical utilisation pathways for turning waste into high value products and exploring what different products can be obtained from the selected waste streams after the HTC process. It will also develop techniques for the use of HTC products with increased added value, and work on the elaboration of standards and guidelines for the effective industrial uptake of the HTC process and products. NEWAPP, which stands for 'new technological applications for wet biomass waste stream products' is funded by the European Commission, under the 'Research for SME associations instrument of the 7th Framework Program'. With this instrument, the EC aims to support SME associations to develop technological solutions to problems common to a large number of SMEs in specific industrial sectors or segments of the value chain through research. Thus, the European Biomass Industry Association (EUBIA), the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and sustainable Resource Management (ACR+), and the German Federal Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Waste Management (bvse) together with the companies Ingelia S.L and Terra Preta GmbH, are the project beneficiaries and will own the resulting IPR of the project. The research activities will be conducted by the Chemical Technology Institute, a joint research centre founded by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and ttz Bremerhaven, an innovative provider of research services that operates in the field of application-oriented research and development. This consortium has already been working together for over a year during the preparation of the project proposal. With the acceptation of the proposal by the EC and with funding now secured, the NEWAPP project began in November 2013, and will last 30 months. While the SMEs and associations are sitting in the driver's seat, with EUBIA as project coordinator, the main research activities will be conducted by CSIC-ITQ, DTU and ttz Bremerhaven, scientific manager of the project. During its lifetime, the project will go through the following phases: 1. Characterisation and definition requirements: The first stage in the project consists of a full screening of wet biomass streams and their sources at European level, and the elaboration of a market study for potential HTC carbon products. The chemical properties of wet biomass waste streams will be defined in order to assess which mixture is most suitable for the technology and the risks that might arise from their use will be assessed. The seasonal and regional availability of wet biomass, including any economic considerations of relevance for the overall performance of the systems will also be investigated. To foster market uptake, a market study will define which of the different products that can result from HTC have higher market potential. 2. Obtention of HTC carbon at pilot scale: HTC Carbon will be obtained from selected waste streams and post-treatment development for improved solid fuel. After the screening of waste streams, the five most promising will be selected. They will be processed at Ingelia S.L´s demonstration plant in Valencia, Spain, with the company's proprietary technology. The process and products will be monitored and characterised, in order to reach an improved coal composition. 3. Post-processing of HTC carbon: Post-processing techniques for HTC carbon will focus on highly technical applications. Different high value applications of the HTC carbon will be explored along with it´s different fractions. This step will also focus on developing new industrial products of such as diesel, electrodes for batteries or soil remediation products. 4. Technology assessment and business plan development: Comprising of a life cycle assessment, cost-benefit analysis and the definition of quality standards, this work package has the goals of assessing the effects on environmental, social and economic sustainability of the developed technologies and concepts. It will also evaluate the results obtained in the prototype operation phase and use these results to develop a set of quality standards for pellets and HTC products. 5. Demonstration of project results: To foster market uptake, a detailed, comprehensive demonstration of the technology and output products will be developed within NEWAPP. Demonstration workshops will be conducted by the members of the beneficiary associations. Final Outcomes The NEWAPP project will gather international researchers, industrial associations and SMEs from different EU countries in its thirty month lifecycle to assess the requirements and constraints of the SME-AGs in the reuse of wet biomass with HTC. It will analyse the potential of different wet biomass streams for use with HTC and perform intensive testing with the system. It will also develop tailor made HTC products, and launch a standardisation to allow their viability in commercial applications. If NEWAPP is successful the process will be of great industrial interest and benefit the waste management, renewable energies and chemical industries and maybe beyond - not only at European but also at global level. Acknowledgement The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme managed by the Research Executive Agency under grant agreement n° [605178] Lucía Doyle, team leader international for biomass & biofuels at ttz Bremerhaven and scientific manager of the NEWAPP project.