It can be used as a catalyst to make biofuel precursors from chemicals found in plants and trees. Hydrochar made from orange peels can do this. The research will help make biomass-based fuel that can be used to avoid the social and political problems of dwindling petroleum reserves, say IIT researchers.
Key Highlight:
- Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, used hydrochar made from orange peels as a catalyst to turn biomass chemicals into biofuel precursors, which can then be used to make biofuel.
- According to the research team, the research will help them develop biomass-based fuel to avoid the social and political problems of dwindling petroleum reserves.
- Published in “Green Chemistry”: The results of the study have been made public.
- To make the hydrochar even more acidic, sulfonic and phosphate functional groups were added by treating it with other chemicals.
- They also did green metric calculations and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) studies to learn more about the catalytic activity of hydrochar made from orange peels.
Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, used hydrochar made from orange peels as a catalyst to turn biomass chemicals into biofuel precursors, which can then be used to make biofuel.
According to the research team, the research will help them develop biomass-based fuel to avoid the social and political problems of dwindling petroleum reserves.
There is a magazine called “Green Chemistry” that has the research results.
Venkata Krishnan, an Associate Professor in the School of Basic Sciences at IIT Mandi, says that one of the main goals of the renewable energy community is to find ways to turn biomass into useful chemicals and fuels that are both clean and efficient.
Researchers have looked into hydrochar as a cheap and simple catalyst for biomass conversion reactions. In most cases, it is made by heating biomass waste (like orange peels) with water in it. This is known as hydrothermal carbonization.
He said that hydrochar, made from biomass, is a good catalyst because it is renewable and can be changed to make it more efficient at converting biomass into energy.
Krishnan said the researchers could make the biofuel precursors without solvents and at low temperatures, which made the process cheaper and more environmentally friendly. This also made the process more appealing from an industry point of view.
It took them a long time to mix dried orange peel powder with citric acid and heat it under pressure in a hydrothermal reactor, which is like a “pressure cooker.” To make the hydrochar even more acidic, sulfonic, and phosphate functional groups were added by treating it with other chemicals.
Researcher Tripti Chhabra: “We used these three types of catalysts to do hydroxyalkylation alkylation (HAA) reactions between 2-methyl furan and furfural, which are both made from lignocellulose.”
The researchers say this is the first time all three types of acid functionalization have been looked at in the same study.
They also did green metric calculations and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) studies to learn more about the catalytic activity of hydrochar made from orange peels.
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