(82e) Development of a Plug-Flow Reactor for Direct Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Algae and Livestock Waste

Hydrothermal processing of biomass is a technology that has shown promising results in treating waste and producing oil. A batch hydrothermal processing system that was previously developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was used to treat swine manure and it successfully converted up to 70% of swine manure volatile solids into oil. A continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) demonstrated results similar to the batch reactor and proved the feasibility of a continuous process, but CSTRs are not conducive for scale-up at the high pressures associated with hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass so a continuous plug-flow reactor was designed and implemented. After the livestock waste is converted to oil, the nutrients remaining in the waste water can be used to grow algae, which clean the wastewater and can also be hydrothermally processed into oil. The oil conversion rates associated with processing livestock waste and algae using a plug-flow reactor were compared with those from the batch reactor and the CSTR to assess the feasibility of scale-up.