Utilization of DDGS using ethanol solution for biocrude oil production by hydrothermal liquefaction

ABSTRACT

Production of bioethanol from biomass has been known in almost worldwide. Grain-based bioethanol production generally yields a by-product known as DDGS (dried distiller grains with soluble). DDGS is potentially convertible into biocrude oil due to the lipid, carbohydrate, and protein content. One of the technologies for the production of biocrude oil from solid biomass is hydrothermal liquefaction. In this study, hydrothermal liquefaction of DDGS was conducted using ethanol solution as a reaction medium. The process was carried out under various temperatures, ratios of DDGS to reaction medium, and ethanol concentrations (15–99.5%). A high yield of biocrude oil was recovered at 280°C and ratio between DDGS and 75% of ethanol solution as 1:20. It was found that around 38.2% of biocrude oil was recovered from DDGS. Thus, DDGS has the potential to be converted into biocrude oil.

KEYWORDS:

• Hydrothermal liquefaction
• DDGS
• bioethanol
• biocrude oil

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank to the laboratory members in Chemical Process Engineering, Hokkaido University, for the help in the operation of the HTL reactor. We acknowledge Prof. Dr. Evvy Kartini for suggestions in the writing style of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.