Design and Construction of a Continous Stirring Hydrothermal Liquefaction Batch Reactor

Abstract

The design and construction of a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) machine play a crucial role in the development of renewable energy technologies and the utilization of biomass resources. This work focused on the design and production of continuous stirring hydrothermal liquefaction batch reactor. The reactor comprises of various components, such as the supporting frame on which the reactor seats for easy operation, the reaction chamber with heating elements, the reactor housing, pressure gauge and valve, gas tank, electric motor, voltage regulator, and the control box. The reactor was designed based on the liquefaction temperature of 500^oC, and pressure of 240 bar, with the reaction chamber volume of 0.001m³, for laboratory purposes. The materials used for the production the reactor was carefully selected based on the designed parameters, and locally sourced for cost effectiveness. Performance evaluation test was conducted on the reactor using beet pulp at the reaction temperature of 250^oC, water biomass ratio of 8.5 and a heating rate of 10^oC/min, for 20 minutes, a bio oil and solid residue yield of 19 and 35% was recorded which is closely related to result reported in the literature. Hence, this reactor can be used to investigate the potentials of producing bio oil from wet biomass through hydrothermal liquefaction process.