G.W. Meindersma

Water extraction of pyrolysis oil: The first step for the recovery of renewable chemicals

The interest in biomass as a source of renewable energy and chemicals has been increasing in keeping up with the transition to a sustainable bio-based economy. An important initial step of chemicals recovery from biomass-derived pyrolysis oil is water extraction where most of polar compounds are isolated in the aqueous phase. This study was done to investigate the effects of stirring rate and water-to-oil ratio on the extraction capability (distribution coefficient and yield), water content, and atomic composition of both aqueous and organic phases. The results show that the stirring rate above 300 rpm has no influence on the equilibrium. Increasing the water-to-oil ratio dilutes the aqueous phase without changing the atomic distribution. Forest residue-derived pyrolysis oil should be extracted at a water-to-oil ratio of 0.65-0.7, whereas pine-derived pyrolysis oil is preferably extracted at the lowest feasible water-to-oil ratio where complete phase separation occurs, which is 0.5 in this study.

Optimization of non-woven spacers by CFD and validation by experiments

CFD simulations were used to determine mass transfer coefficients and power consumptions in channels filled with non-woven net spacers. The geometric parameters of a non-woven spacer were found to have a great influence on the performance of a spacer in terms of mass transfer enhancement and power consumption. The results from CFD simulations indicate that an optimal spacer geometry exists. Mass transfer coefficients and power consumptions were determined experimentally by the limiting current method and pressure drop measurements. Close agreement between experiments and simulations was observed.

Laboratory scale conceptual process development for the isolation of renewable glycolaldehyde from pyrolysis oil to produce fermentation feedstock

A laboratory-based separation sequence has been developed to produce an aqueous glycolaldehyde solution as fermentation feedstock. It consists of water extraction of pyrolysis oil, acid removal, water removal, octanol extraction, phenolic removal, back-extraction, and washing. The octanol-free aqueous glycolaldehyde solution contains approximately 4 wt% glycolaldehyde, which meets the requirement of fermentation feedstock.

Method for experimental determination of the gas transport properties of highly porous fibre membranes: a first step before predictive modelling of a membrane distillation process

For the predictive modelling of a membrane distillation process, the gas transport properties, defined by the dusty-gas model, of three highly permeable polyethylene and polypropylene fibre membranes have been determined. Single gas permeation experiments were carried out to determine the Knudsen diffusion and viscous flow membrane characteristics (K0 and B0, respectively). Binary gas diffusion experiments were carried out to determine the molecular diffusion membrane characteristic (K1). Because of the high permeability of the fibre membranes, new methods were developed to deal with effects such as pressure drop in the single gas permeation experiments and boundary layer resistance in the binary gas diffusion experiments. The K1 values of the fibre membranes were determined with an inaccuracy of 4–8%. It turned out that calculations of K1 with the values of K0 and B0 assuming cylindrical pores are, for the membranes studied, inaccurate by a factor of two.