CHAPTER 3: Hydrothermal treatment

Hydrothermal treatment is a process utilizing steam under high pressure and temperature to destroy
biomass chain to become a product with high calorific value. The process eliminates the adhesive effect
of the polyethylene, and then separates the aluminum from the paper. The hydrothermal process also
degrades the paper into a coal-like material with a high calorific.

Hydrothermal treatment gives advantages to converting biomass into solid fuel by avoiding an energy
extensive drying process, high conversion efficiency and relatively low operation temperature compare
to other thermal methods.

Hydrothermal treatment can be done at the three different holding times between 0 and 60 min and
temperatures between 200 and 240 °C.

Hydrothermal Treatment Products

The hydrothermal treatment of tetra brik waste mainly yield two products which are solid and a
composite of aluminum and polyethylene. The solid product often termed as char, hydrochar, charcoal
or coke, is generally of high carbon content and many contain around half the total carbon of the
original matter(Brownsort,2009)

Solid product (char)

Potential markets for the solid product(bio char)

Agriculture sector: The target market for the solid by product (bio char) would be local famers. This is
because biochar application on farmland increases productivity of crops and improves local
sustainability, national commerce and export.

Additionally, applied biochar reduces the need of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticide which
have a negative effect on the environment (British biochar foundation,2017). Furthermore, biochar
applications in animal agriculture, for instance as animal feed supplement is beneficial as it increases
herd health poultry, cattle, fish and hogs and decreases the usage of antibiotics, which have negative
impact on environment and human health (Schmidt et al, 2016)

Energy sector: Biochar has the approximate energy density of coal and can be used as its direct
substitute in electricity or heat plants, with only minor retrofits needed (Schmidt,2016). This displaces
greenhouse gas emissions from coal. Therefore the target market will be the Zimbabwe Power
Company. Local household can be a target market for biochar as it provides a source of fuel for heating
and cooking purposes especially in the rural areas where there is no electricity.

Municipal industries : The target market will be all local municipal industries. This is because biochar
typically have high surface area and chemically activated surfaces for binding other molecules, which
make biochar a good raw material for activated carbon applications such as air and water filtration
(Azargohar and Dalai,2016). Biochar could be used to recover nutrients from wastewater treatment
plants. The enriched material could then be applied to soil to fertilize crops, with the added benefit of
reducing the nutrient load released into the wider environment from effluent(Schmidt,2016).

CO2 sequestration: the government of Zimbabwe and the local authorities would be a target market as
a way to help them move towards lower carbon communities and economies while meeting
international, national and local carbon greenhouse gas emission targets (British Biochar Foundation
2017). This is because biochar help to migrate climate change (Lehmann & Joseph,2009) when applied
to soil, large amount of carbon contained in the biochar is not released back to the atmosphere for 100-
3000 years ( international Biochar initiative 2016)