(48a) Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Produce Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Hydrogen, and Clean Water.

Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass is a promising technology to produce sustainable aviation fuels and to decarbonize the chemical industry. However, the hydrothermal liquefaction process produces large quantities of dilute aqueous phase products because of the processing water as well as water generated from the liquefaction reactions. The aqueous phase contains many dissolved low molecular weight organic compounds because of the decomposition of the biopolymers. This aqueous phase liquefaction product requires treatment before it can be discharged into the environment. Aqueous phase hydrothermal products were produced from the rapid inductive hydrothermal liquefaction of corn stover at 350-400 ^oC and 5 min reaction time. The aqueous phase products were converted into hydrogen, methane, and clean water using catalytic hydrothermal gasification process at 300-400 C. The clean water was 99.95% pure and the gaseous products contained 42% H₂, 33 % CH₄ and 25 % CO₂. The CH₄ can be steam reformed to produce more hydrogen. Thus, a process has been developed that will produce enough hydrogen for the hydrotreatment of the heavy oil from the hydrothermal liquefaction process to produce sustainable aviation fuel, the clean water is recycled for process application, and potentially a zero-wastewater discharge process.