Hydrothermal Torrefaction of High Moisture Content Biomass

There is a lot of potential for biofuel and bioenergy production from forests and agriculture residues. However, delivery cost of biomass to a conversion facility is high and have distinct economic and technological challenges. Pipeline transport of forest biomass in the form of slurry (a wood chip-water mixture), on the other hand, provides an alternative approach that enables bio-based energy facilities achieve higher capacities. Biomass transported through pipeline in the form of a slurry with water would have high moisture content. However, integrating pipeline delivery with efficient hydrothermal (HT) biomass processing technologies could transform the bioeconomy. HT processes uses biomass in the form of a slurry and produces liquid fuel/gas/solids which can be used for production of fuels and energy. HT processing is a state-of-the-art thermochemical conversion using biomass feedstock with high moisture content (60-80%) especially in slurry form. This conversion process converts biomass into useful solid product with high calorific value and very low moisture content which can be for producing fuels and electricity. This integration of technologies can help in producing biofuel and power at significantly lower cost. This project is aimed at developing a transformative solution through integration of the pipeline transport of biomass with HT processing technologies. Pipeline transport helps in reducing the transportation cost compared to truck and rails and HT technologies help in processing biomass with high moisture content. Hence marrying these two technologies could be transformative and help in solving key challenges in development of a bioeconomy in Canada. 

Sadler Graduate Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering

Amit Kumar

Award

The ConocoPhillips Canada Limited Graduate Scholarship in Hydrocarbon Development

Amit Kumar

Award

Investigating the mechanics of agricultural residue biomass-water mixtures flows while hydro-transporting in vertical pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

A Review of Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Biomass for Biofuels Production with a Special Focus on the Effect of Process Parameters, Co-Solvents, and Extraction Solvents

Amit Kumar, Raj Gupta, Deepak Pudasainee, Ankit Mathanker, Snehlata Das

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

A consequential life cycle assessment of biofuel production on transportation sector

Amit Kumar, Eskinder Gemechu

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

A parametric study through the modeling of hydrothermal gasification for hydrogen production from algal biomass

Amit Kumar

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Analyzing the techno-economic aspects of co-processing fast pyrolysis bio-oil with conventional vacuum gas oil for the production of liquid fuels.

Amit Kumar, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Application of high-frequency impedancemetry approach in measuring the critical velocities of biomass and sand slurry flows in pipelines

Amit Kumar, Mahdi Vaezi

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Can we marry pipeline transportation with hydrothermal processing?

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Comparative assessment of pipeline hydro-transport of biomass feedstock – an overview of 8 years experimental and techno-economic studies

Amit Kumar, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Comparative energy and techno-economic analyses of two different configurations for hydrothermal carbonization of yard waste

Amit Kumar, Maryam Akbari

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Comparison of frictional behaviour and techno-economics of agricultural residue biomass in ascending and descending pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Comparison of maize stover and wheat straw slurry flow in vertical pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Comparison of vertical hydro-transport of lignocellulosic biomass with conventional solids

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Conversion of Organic Waste to Value-added Products

Maryam Akbari

Doctoral Thesis/Dissertation

Development of a valorization framework for biogenic CO2 emissions from kraft pulp mills.

Amit Kumar

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Evaluation of particle size, shape and specific energy consumption during hammer milling of wheat straw and softwood residues.

Amit Kumar, Vinoj Kurian, Omex Mohan

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Experimental investigation of agricultural residue biomass-water slurry flows in inclined and vertical pipelines

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Experimental investigation of terminal settling velocity of biomass particles in Newtonian fluid.

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Experimental study on two-phase (solid-liquid) flows of ground wheat straw in inclined pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Frictional behaviour of wheat straw-water suspensions in vertical upward flows

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian, Mahdi Vaezi

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Hydro-transport of lignocellulosic biomass through inclined pipelines.

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Hydrothermal Torrefaction of High Moisture Content Biomass

Amit Kumar, Raj Gupta, Mahdi Vaezi

Other Event

Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulosic biomass feedstock to produce biofuels: parametric study and products characterization

Amit Kumar, Raj Gupta, Deepak Pudasainee, Ankit Mathanker

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulosic biomass to produce biofuels

Ankit Mathanker

Master Thesis

Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulosic biomass using water and hydrogen-donor solvent mixtures to produce energy-dense heavy oil

Snehlata Das

Master Thesis

Hydrothermal liquefaction of pipelined biomass for fuel production

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Other Event

Hydrothermal torrefaction of high moisture content biomass

Amit Kumar

Research Report

Hydrothermal treatment of biomass to produce biofuels

Amit Kumar, Raj Gupta, Deepak Pudasainee, Ankit Mathanker

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Integration of large-scale biomass supply through pipeline for scale-up of biomass processing

Amit Kumar

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Integration of pipeline hydro-transport and hydrothermal conversion technologies to produce biofuels

Amit Kumar, Raj Gupta, Kashif Javed, Mahdi Vaezi, Deepak Pudasainee, Ankit Mathanker

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Investigating the mechanics of agricultural residue biomass-water mixtures flows while hydro-transporting in vertical pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Investigation into the drag reduction behavior during pipeline hydro-transportation of forestry residues

Amit Kumar, Omex Mohan

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Kumar M, Oyedun AO, Kumar A. A review on the current status of various hydrothermal technologies on biomass feedstock, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018, 81 (2): 1742-1770.

Amit Kumar

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Large scale pipeline hydrotransport of biomass feedstock to bio-based energy facilities

Amit Kumar, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Life cycle assessment to evaluate environmental performance of thermochemical processing of biomass

Amit Kumar, Eskinder Gemechu

Book Chapter

Measuring agricultural residue and woodchips biomass slurry flows critical velocity in pipelines using high-frequency impedancemetry approach

Amit Kumar, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Parametric study of hydrothermal treatment of biomass to produce biofuels

Amit Kumar, Deepak Pudasainee, Ankit Mathanker

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Pelletization of Three Municipal Solid Waste Streams: Digestate, Source Separated Organics and Refuse Derived Fuel for Use in a Biorefinery

Vinoj Kurian, Omex Mohan, Benjamin Mauricio Martinez Castellanos

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Pipeline hydro transport of wheat straw biomass in vertical pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Prediction of the frictional behaviour for pipeline hydro transportation of agricultural residue using a neural network model

Amit Kumar, Vinoj Kurian, Omex Mohan

Other Event

Raw biomass slurry flow in an inclined pipeline for its transport over a long distance to a biorefinery

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Rheology of fiber suspension flows in pipeline hydro-transport of biomass feedstock

Amit Kumar, Mahdi Vaezi

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Scale up of pipeline hydro-transportation of agricultural and forestry residues.

Amit Kumar, Vinoj Kurian, Omex Mohan

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Scale up study on pipeline hydro-transportation of agricultural and forestry residues

Amit Kumar, Vinoj Kurian, Omex Mohan

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Synergistic effect of water and co-solvents on the hydrothermal liquefaction of agricultural biomass to produce heavy oil

Amit Kumar, Raj Gupta, Deepak Pudasainee, Ankit Mathanker, Snehlata Das

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Techno-economic assessment of bio-coal production through wet and dry torrefaction processes of different biomass feedstocks

Amit Kumar, Maryam Akbari

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Techno-economic assessment of co-processing of fast pyrolysis bio-oil with fossil fuel derived vacuum gas oil

Amit Kumar, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Techno-economic assessment of pipeline hydro-transport vs. truck delivery of forest residue biomass to a bio-based energy facility based on experimental measurements

Amit Kumar, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Techno-economic assessment of pipeline hydro-transport vs. truck delivery of forest residue biomass to a bio-based energy facility based on experimental measurements

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Mahdi Vaezi

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

The Development of Empirical Correlations to Understand the Frictional Behavior of Aqueous Biomass Slurry Flows in Vertical Pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

The development of a cost model for two supply chain networks of the decentralized pyrolysis system to produce bio-oil

Amit Kumar

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

The development of empirical correlations to understand the frictional behavior of aqueous biomass slurry flows in vertical pipes

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

The effect of particle size and concentration on the frictional behavior of vertical upward flows of wheat straw aqueous slurries

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Peer-Reviewed Journal Article

Two-phase (solid-liquid) flows of agricultural residue biomass in inclined pipes.

Amit Kumar, Kashif Javed, Vinoj Kurian

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Unleasing Canada’s Biomass Energy Potential

Amit Kumar, David C. Bressler, Marty K Luckert

Conference/Symposium/Workshop Contribution

Use of thermogravimetric analyzer and high temperature furnace as an alternative to the coke reactivity index test and study on effect of binders in metallurgical coke making

Amanthan Santhanakrishnan

Master Thesis