Date: Monday, 24 June 2024
Time: 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Session code 5AV.2
Biofuels and renewable hydrocarbon biofuels
Opportunities and Challenges of Conversion of Water Hyacinth into Sustainable Biofuels via Alcoholysis
Short Introductive summary
Water hyacinth is a free-floating aquatic plant prevalent across Asia and Africa that causes severe environmental impacts. It results in the blockage of rivers, affecting aquatic life and the fish population, and affecting recreation, navigation, and sedimentation. It is largely regarded as a troublesome waste and is often removed and dumped in landfills, or worse yet, allowed to rot near the banks of rivers and lakes. Despite its environmental impacts, water hyacinth represents a new supply chain of biomass for valorization into useful bio-products. Numerous studies have investigated its biochemical valorization into bioethanol and biogas via fermentation and anaerobic digestion, respectively, with more limited studies investigating the thermochemical conversion using technologies such as hydrothermal conversion and pyrolysis. An alternative approach is to convert the carbohydrate fraction via novel fuel conversion routes such as ‘catalytic one-pot alcoholysis’ into alkyl levulinates for use as blending components in diesel fuel. The butanolysis of water hyacinth produces a range of platform molecules with applications as biofuels and/or intermediate chemicals in several industries.
Presenter
Karim ISMAIL
University of Leeds
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
M. Nahil, University of Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
A. Ross, University of Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
V. Dupont, University of Leeds , UNITED KINGDOM
Session reference: 5AV.2.26