The primary objective of my BRISK2 research was carried out at Aston was to study a biomass liquefaction process in high-pressure conditions. To my research as a feedstock, I used a reference wood. The reference wood in the first step was ground and sieved up to 0.250 mm and next dispersed in deionised water in ratio 1:4. This slurry sample was processed in various atmosphere conditions (H2, N2, O2) and temperatures (250°C, 300°C, 350°C). The biomass liquefaction process was performed in a stainless steel autoclave of 20 ml capacity. The autoclave was heated with an external furnace, and the temperature was measured with a thermocouple. During the Transnational Access programme, 10 runs were prepared. Each test approximately 4-5 g of slurry biomass was fed into the reactor, sealed and pressurised to 40 bar. Then the autoclave (Figure 1) was gradually heated to the assumed temperature (250°C, 300°C, 350°C). The residence time was set on the 30 min under stirring. The reaction mixture (bio oil-bio char-water) was collected, separated and analysed (Figure 2). Besides, the gaseous and liquid products obtained during liquefaction were tested by analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC-MS) and gas chromatography (GC) to characterised products and their comparisons between themselves it (Figure 3.).
The biomass liquefaction process in high-pressure conditions can enhance the quantity and quality of bio-liquids produced – application in the production of value-added chemicals. The other measurable objective is to gain knowledge and understanding of the analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC-MS) and thermal conversion of biomass under high-pressure conditions.
Thanks for this research it was possible to compare properties of liquid products obtained in various liquefaction process and selected an optimal approach for its utilisation.
Participation in the project BRISK2 allowed me to become acquainted with advantageous techniques, which I would like to, in the future make permanent to my research plan. One of the objectives was to build links for future research collaboration with EBRI at Aston University and his great science team (Figure 4-5 )
