(560ac) Characterization of Physical and Chemical Properties of Bio-Crude Oil from Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Food Waste

Sustainable management of food waste is one of the most urgent challenges facing the society with 1.3-billion-ton food waste being generated annually in the worldwide. The traditional managements (e.g. landfilling) raise economic and environmental concerns including low processing efficiency, greenhouse gas emission, and water/soil pollution. Considering the abilities of recycling value-added products, stabilizing organic matter, and reducing waste volume, hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is deemed as a an alternative remediation technique, which can convert moisture-rich food waste into bio-crude oil, that can be further upgraded into liquid fuels. In this study, two types of food wastes (pre-consumption and post-consumption) were collected from a New Mexico State University- campus dining facility. HTL of organic fractions of the above food wastes were conducted using a 100 mL batch reactor at 200-290°C, 30 min reaction time and ~15% solids load. The highest bio-crude oil yield (28.26 wt.%, dry basis) was obtained at a temperature of 240 °C and overall product distribution was investigated. Feedstock and the product bio-crude oil, aqueous phase and char were characterized by various analytical methods. Detailed characterization of bio-crude oil was performed by fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), high-resolution Fourier transform-mass spectroscopy (FT-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in order to comprehensively evaluate bio-crude oil make up and chemistry.