Solvent consumption in supercritical ethanol, propanol or butanol treatment of either refined pre-extracted lignin or comparatively impure lignin-rich solid residual from hydrothermally pretreated lignocellulosic biomass can be minimized by conducting the reaction at very high loading of lignin to solvent. Comparatively impure, crude lignin-rich solid residual can be directly converted by supercritical alcohol treatment to significantly diesel-soluble lignin oil without requirement for pre-extraction or pre-solubilisation of lignin or for added reaction promoters such as catalysts, hydrogen donor co-solvents, acids, based or H2 gas. O:C ratio of product oil can readily be obtained using crude lignin residual in such a process at levels 0.20 or lower.

Disclosed is a method for reducing methane emission from slurry (2) produced in a livestock farm (1). The method comprises the steps of guiding the slurry (2) from the livestock farm (1) to a dewatering unit (12) in which the slurry (2) is at least partially dewatered by extracting a watery fraction of said slurry (13), guiding the slurry from the dewatering unit (12) to a steam dryer (3), drying the slurry in the steam dryer (3), guiding the dried slurry (4) into a pyrolysis reactor (5) to produce pyrolysis gas (6) and biochar (7) through a pyrolysis process in the pyrolysis reactor (5), guiding at least a portion of the pyrolysis gas (6) to a combustion unit (8) in which the pyrolysis gas portion is combusted to raise the temperature of the combusted pyrolysis gas (9), guiding the combusted pyrolysis gas (9) to the pyrolysis reactor (5) to drive the pyrolysis process, guiding the combusted pyrolysis gas (9) from the pyrolysis reactor (5) to the steam dryer (3) to increase the temperature of steam (10) in the steam dryer (3), and heating the watery fraction of the slurry 13 to a temperature at least above 75° Celsius by means of the steam (10) from said steam dryer (3). Furthermore, a slurry treatment plant (20) for reducing methane emission from slurry (2) is disclosed.

Aqueous wastewater from hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) systems is typically high in chemical oxygen demand (COD), which renders classic aerobic wastewater treatment to be prohibitively expensive. HTL wastewater can be processed using thermochemical wet oxidation in a manner that is not only cost efficient but also contributes more heat than is required for the energetically demanding HTL process. Provided are methods and devices for integrated hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass and treatment of resulting wastewater.

The inventive biorefinery system and method accepts municipal solid waste, sewage sludges, and/or ag-wastes and processes it through three primary conversion unit operations to produce a variety of value-added products. In a preferred embodiment, the three primary conversion units are gasification, thermal depolymerization or torrefaction/pyrolysis, and biotreatment.

Commercially beneficial carbon-containing fractions can be recovered from hydrothermal liquefaction reactions in various types of processors. Feedstock slurry from waste solids is placed into a pressurized processor where it is maintained at temperature and pressure for a predetermined period. On discharge from the processor the processed discharge is separated into liquid and solid fractions. Gaseous fractions including carbon dioxide can also be removed or off-taken from the processor. New molecular structures are created in this reaction, resulting in fractions including biogas, biofuels, biosolids and biocrude. Silica, phosphates, potash and low concentration nitrogen based fertilizer, along with carbonaceous material can also be recovered.

Commercially beneficial carbon-containing fractions can be recovered from hydrothermal liquefaction reactions in various types of processors. Feedstock slurry from waste solids is placed into a pressurized processor where it is maintained at temperature and pressure for a predetermined period. On discharge from the processor the processed discharge is separated into liquid and solid fractions. Gaseous fractions including carbon dioxide can also be removed or off-taken from the processor. New molecular structures are created in this reaction, resulting in fractions including biogas, biofuels, biosolids and biocrude. Silica, phosphates, potash and low concentration nitrogen based fertilizer, along with carbonaceous material can also be recovered.

A hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) system can comprise a biomass slurry source, a first pump in fluid communication with the slurry source and configured to pressurize a biomass slurry stream from the slurry source to a first pressure, a first heat exchanger in fluid communication with the first pump and configured to heat a slurry stream received from the first pump to a first temperature, a second pump in fluid communication with the first heat exchanger and configured to pressurize a slurry stream received from the first heat exchanger to a second pressure higher than the first pressure, a second heat exchanger in fluid communication with the second pump and configured to heat a slurry stream received from the second pump to a second temperature higher than the first temperature, and a HTL reactor configured to produce biocrude from a slurry stream received from the second heat exchanger.

Embodiments of the present invention may provide managing waste including providing non-sorted solid waste (1), processing non-sorted solid waste in a waste handling system (21), shredding (26) non-sorted solid waste to create shredded non-sorted solid waste (27) in a waste handling system; introducing shredded non-sorted solid waste into a thermochemical conversion reactor (4); heating and even chemically converting a shredded non-sorted solid waste; producing hydrochar (22) and a recyclable materials fraction (23); recycling water (24) used in the heating and chemically processing of the shredded non-sorted solid waste in a thermochemical conversion reactor in said waste handling system; sorting (25) the recyclable materials fraction; fueling (28) a thermochemical conversion reactor with hydrochar (22); and perhaps even recycling heat from a thermochemical conversion reactor in the waste handling system.

A system for gasifying a carbonaceous feedstock, such as municipal waste, to generate power includes a devolatilization reactor that creates char from the feedstock and a gasifier that creates a product gas from both the char and from volatiles released when devolatilizing the feedstock. The product gas is reacted in a fuel cell to create electrical energy and process heat. The process heat is used to heat the devolatilization reactor and the gasifier. The gasifier comprises a plurality of configurable circuits that can each be tuned to meet the individual needs of the char material being gasified.

The production of steam-cracked biomass in the form of black pellets in the field of solid biofuels. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the production of black pellets from a heterogeneous biomass. The aim of the present disclosure is to produce black pellets having good mechanical strength, good water resistance and an increased calorific value.