Hydrothermal decomposition of waste resulting from the agro-industrial activities under liquid and supercritical water conditions

Hydrothermal treatments are by far the most interesting for the putrescible and unputrescible biomasses (usually very wet) because do not require any drying pre-treatment. This contribution deals with an experimental study of the decomposition of organic materials in an aqueous environment, in order to quantify the yields in liquid and/or solid fuel than can be obtained under different operating conditions. Experiments with woody materials gave rise to significant carbon densifications and indicated that results are well described by straight lines on van Krevelen diagrams. This kind of laboratory data is presently analyzed in other studies aiming to find proper model equations suitable for process optimization. Fittings obtained till now demonstrate that this semi-empirical approach holds good.