Biomass valorization towards zero waste Singapore

• Main Author: Lim, Nigel Jek Ming
• Other Authors: Hong Li
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150869
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In the world today, fossil fuels are depleting at a much faster pace than it can replenish, which calls for the need for renewable sources of energy. In this project, biomass refinery will be performed on the biomass, raintree wood, while essentially working towards zero waste to effectively convert lignocellulosic biomass into useful products. There are many existing pre-treatment methods for biomass refinery, however, not all methods are executable due to certain environmental conditions required, i.e., high temperature or pressure, or substances that are invaluable or not easily accessible, i.e., acids, liquors etc. Suitable pre-treatment methods such as ball milling and thermo alkaline pre-treatment was performed on the biomass and thereafter, evaluating the effectiveness of said pre-treatment method by analysing its solubility. Electrochemistry was also performed to further analyse the productivity and effectiveness of the end product using processes such as cyclic voltammetry & linear sweep voltammetry. Each pre-treatment has its optimal parameter to which it yields the maximum effectiveness. For example, ball milling with zirconium oxide was more effective than it was with stainless steel balls as it yielded a higher solubility. Whereas in thermo-alkaline pre-treatment, the most important parameter is the concentration of the alkaline, rather than the temperature or duration of heating, as analysed using the design of experiment. Electrochemistry was performed on the pre-treated biomass and it was observed on the voltammetry graphs that current was being produced when voltage was applied, signifying the presence of useful products. These findings signify that in time to come, biomass valorization could possibly replace fossil fuel as an alternative source of fuel, whilst being a solution to zero waste in Singapore.