Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #360052
Research Project: Increasing the Value of Cottonseed

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Characterization of defatted cottonseed meal-based biochar and bio-oil

Author
item He, Zhongqi
item GUO, MINGXIN - Delaware State University

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/2/2019
Publication Date: 6/6/2019
Citation: He, Z., Guo, M. 2019. Characterization of defatted cottonseed meal-based biochar and bio-oil. In: Proceedings of the National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 8-10, 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana. p. 86-91.

Interpretive Summary: To enhance the utilization of agricultural byproducts "green" and value-added raw materials, in this work, we evaluated the feasibility of producing biochar and bio-oil from defatted cottonseed meal (CSM). While there are several reports from Turkey and India on pyrolysis of defatted cottonseed cake mainly for bio-oil production, no pyrolysis of CSM has been conducted in USA. We conducted slow pyrolysis at 300, 400, and 500°C in batch reactors to convert CSM to biochar and bio-oil. The physicochemical properties of the biochar products were characterized by wet chemistry and advanced spectroscopic techniques. The characterization work increased the knowledge on the chemical and structural composition of cottonseed meal-derived biochar and bio-oil products. This information is useful for both chemical fingerprinting of cottonseed meal/cake-based biochars and bio-oils and guiding the effective uses of these products for soil amendments, environmental remediation, bioenergy resource and industrial feedstock.

Technical Abstract: To enhance the utilization of agricultural byproducts "green" and value-added raw materials, in this work, we evaluated the feasibility of producing biochar and bio-oil from defatted cottonseed meal (CSM). Complete slow pyrolysis at 300, 400, and 500°C in batch reactors was implemented to convert CSM to biochar and bio-oil. The physicochemical properties of the biochar products were characterized by wet chemistry and advanced spectroscopic techniques. The bio-oil product was separated into an aqueous phase and an oily phase and subsequently characterized using ultrahigh resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. The characterization work increased the knowledge on the chemical and structural composition of cottonseed meal-derived biochar and bio-oil products. The results provide a base for effective utilization of these products in pollutant absorption/immobilization, bio-energy resources or bio-based wood bonding.