Hydrothermal Conversion of Biomass: I, Glucose Conversion in Hot Compressed Water

In this paper, hydrothermal conversion of biomass is investigated. Part I deals with glucose and part II focuses on woody biomass and pyrolysis oil. Hydrothermal conversion of glucose (250−350 °C) has been studied in batch quartz capillary reactors. Kinetics of the overall glucose decomposition was determined and was in agreement with the majority of literature data. Attention was paid to the initial glucose decomposition: primary glucose decay products were identified from literature and used in experiments. It was found that all primary decay components of glucose, with the exception of formaldehyde, produce a kind of char (acetone insoluble product). Characteristic gas (primarily CO2) formation reactions are discussed on the basis of separate tests with primary and other known initial glucose degradation products. Complete mass and elemental balances were obtained for two different temperatures, 300 and 350 °C, and various residence times from 10 s to 10 days. It was clearly observed that the product f...