Liquefaction of almond husk for assessment as feedstock to obtain valuable bio-oils

Abstract

Almond husk liquefaction can be envisaged as an alternative to fossil sources which are becoming exhausted. Lately, the polyols obtain from the lignocellulosic biomass have been under investigation for the production of sustainable chemicals, fuel, materials or other commodities. Within this context, acid-catalyzed liquefaction of such lignocellulosic biomass has been successfully used to access highly functionalized compounds that can be used to replace those produced from petroleum. Almond shells waste can be considered to be part of the lignocellulosic biomass. Its main constituents of are cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. In this assay, the biochemical composition of almond husk was estimated based on atomic mass balances, and at the same time, the pyrolysis outcome was also estimated using a kinetic model using some reference compounds. In order to evaluate the use of almond waste as a substrate for acid-catalyzed liquefaction, the most favorable conditions of the liquefaction process were investigated. To better understand the liquefaction process, response surface methodology, in particular, central composite face-centered factorial design was used to set an array of 17 experiments including three replications at the center point leading to the development of a reaction model for further prediction and optimization of the liquefaction outcome. The effect of temperature (120-150 °C), time (20-200 min) and catalyst amount (0.5-5 wt. %) was investigated and a predictive model established.