Journal of Environmental Management 247 (2019) 115–120

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Journal of Environmental Management

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Research article

Hydrothermal carbonization of waste from leather processing and feasibility T

of produced hydrochar as an alternative solid fuel
Jongkeun Lee, Jeongseop Hong, Deokjin Jang, Ki Young Park∗
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, Republic of Korea

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study presents hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of leather waste (LW) to produce hydrochar and feasi-
Hydrochar bility of using produced hydrochar as solid fuel. The results showed that a relatively low HTC treatment tem-
Hydrothermal carbonization perature (180–200 °C) improved both the hydrochar product yield (> 82.9% by dry weight) and its potential use
Leather waste as a solid fuel with in terms of its physicochemical properties and heating value. Furthermore, the hydrochar
Solid fuel
showed a higher heating value (5807–6508 kcal kg−1) compared to that of low-ranked coals (i.e., sub-bitumi-
nous and lignite), and stable combustion characteristics at a higher temperature. This allows the hydrochar to be
considered as a suitable alternative to conventional fossil fuel. In addition, the decrease of nitrogen content in
the hydrochar during the HTC treatment, and the inherent low sulfur content of LW could make hydrochar a
more appealing clean energy source. The findings of this study suggest that the conversion of LW through HTC
can be a useful method for waste management and energy recovery from abandoned biomass.

1. Introduction
Following the increase in the demand for leather products, the
generation of leather waste (LW) has been increasing for several dec-
ades (Priebe et al., 2016). Although LW has a potential for being em-
ployed as a resource or a carbon source, majority of the LW is con-
sidered an industrial waste, and is either sent to landfills or incineration
plants. Inevitably, the lack of an alternative for LW treatment increases
the cost of treatment. In turn, the high LW treatment costs increase the
burden on related industries. Furthermore, the current LW treatment
methods (i.e., landfill and incineration), which do not feature a proper
recycling of the resources, cannot solve the waste disposal issues in an
environmentally sustainable manner. The current global issues of waste
management, resource depletion, and energy scarcity have raised the
attention towards the development of sustainable waste management
approaches. In this respect, the development of suitable methods for
utilizing the LW should be implemented, so that both waste manage-
ment and energy recovery can be pursued at the same time.
The hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a promising technology
for converting various types of biodegradable matter into multi-
functional carbonaceous materials, such as hydrochar (Lee et al., 2018).
The HTC process is based on a thermochemical reaction which occurs in
presence of moisture, in a moderate temperature range (180–350 °C),
and under autogenous pressure (Sevilla and Fuertes, 2009). In general,
the yield, property, and functionality of hydrochar tend to vary ac-
cording to the operating condition (i.e., temperature) of the HTC pro-
cess. Additionally, the treatment temperature strongly controls the
overall energy efficiency of the process. During the HTC process, va-
luable carbon-rich material (i.e., hydrochar) is synthesized from feed
stock. The as-produced hydrochar can be used for multiple applications,
potentially also as a solid fuel (Lang et al., 2018), as an adsorption
medium (Wang et al., 2018), and as a soil amendment (Melo et al.,
2018). Among the various applications, using hydrochar as a solid fuel
could be most the profitable application because of the improved
properties of hydrochar obtained by HTC compared to those of the
untreated biomass in terms of heating value, fuel ratio, and aromatic
structure (Peng et al., 2016). Furthermore, hydrochar can provide a
double benefit, as it constitutes an additional clean energy source that
can replace fossil fuel (Kim et al., 2014), and its use also reduces the
volume of waste from leather industries. In addition, the nitrogen and
sulfur contained in the biomass, which may be released in the form of
NOx and SOx upon combustion, are converted into gas or liquid phases
during the HTC process and are separated from the hydrochar (Zhao
et al., 2013). The reduction of nitrogen and sulfur contents in the bio-
mass decreases the risk that air pollutants (i.e., NOx and SOx) form
during hydrochar combustion, making hydrochar an appealing alter-
native clean solid fuel. Overall, using hydrochar from HTC as a solid
fuel can be seen as a method to mitigate the environmental burden of

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kypark@konkuk.ac.kr (K.Y. Park).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.06.067
Received 15 February 2019; Received in revised form 28 May 2019; Accepted 14 June 2019
Available online 21 June 2019
0301-4797/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Lee, et al.
the LW treatment and to enhance sustainable solutions to the crisis of
energy and resources. However, few studies have employed LW to
produce hydrochar by means of HTC treatment and evaluated feasi-
bility of hydrochar made from LW as fuel using.
The main objective of this study was i) to convert the LW into hy-
drochar through the HTC treatment, and ii) to evaluate the feasibility of
using the produced hydrochar as an alternative solid fuel. First, the HTC
treatment of the LW was conducted under various treatment tempera-
tures (180–300 °C), using a lab-scale device for the hydrothermal re-
action. Next, the characteristics of the produced hydrochar, including
the product yield and combustion profile, were investigated. Finally,
the properties of hydrochar as a solid fuel were compared to those of
low rank coals.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Test material
Leather fleshing waste (pelt scrap from the pre-tanning process) was
collected from a domestic leather industry complex (Dongducheon City,
Korea) and used as LW. According to the previous research on the total
LW generation mass balance (Buljan et al., 2000), most of the solids
(approximately 50% of the organic load in the mass balance of leather
processing) become waste in the pre-tanning process. Therefore, only
the LW generated before the tanning process (not that generated during
the post-tanning or finishing steps), was considered as a feedstock for
the HTC process to produce hydrochar. The collected LW was first dried
at 60 °C in an oven until constant weight of the sample was maintained,
and then cut to a diameter of less than 5 mm, using an industrial cutting
machine, and mixed thoroughly to ensure homogeneity of the test
material. The prepared LW was stored in a desiccator until it was used.
2.2. Hydrothermal carbonization
The HTC experiments on the LW were carried out to study the ef-
fects of treatment on hydrochar production and characteristics of pro-
duced hydrochar (Fig. 1). A lab-scale stirred stainless steel reactor with
Teflon liner was used in this study. Since the stainless walls of the vessel
could be damaged by the halogens and sulfur in the hot-compressed
water, a Teflon liner was installed to prevent damage. The reactor
(batch type) consists of a reactor body (which includes the stainless-
steel Teflon-lined vessel), a heater, and a steam condenser. In each
batch experiment, 50 g of LW sample and 500 mL of deionized water
were loaded into the vessel, which was then sealed. The internal
anaerobic condition of the vessel was achieved by purging with N2 gas
for a sufficient time before putting the reactor into operation. The HTC
treatment temperatures ranged from 180 to 300 °C (moderate tem-
perature range for HTC) with consideration for total energy efficiency
of process. Internal pressure was not controlled, and the reaction was
kept in operation for 30 min after the pre-set temperature was reached.
The contents in vessel were mixed vigorously by an agitator, rotating at
approximately 200 rpm. The residual steam was ejected from the vessel
after the HTC treatment, and the temperature and pressure were re-
duced to the room condition. The resultant products of the reaction
were collected as a mixture of both solid and liquid phases, which was
dried in oven at 105 °C overnight. The resulting dry matter constitutes
116
Journal of Environmental Management 247 (2019) 115–120
the hydrochar. The hydrochar product yield was calculated using the
following equation (Eq. (1)):
Dry hydrochar weight
Hydrochar yield (%) = × 100
Dry LW weight (1)
2.3. Analytical methods
Proximate analyses were carried out according to ASTM D3174 and
D3175 standard methods for ash and volatile matter (VM), respectively.
The fixed carbon (FC) was determined by the difference in the results of
the proximate analyses. The elemental composition (e.g., carbon, hy-
drogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur contents) of the samples, LW and
the produced hydrochars, were determined using an elemental analyzer
(Flash 1112, Thermo Fisher, Germany). For elemental composition
analysis, the samples were oven-dried at 70 °C until a constant weight
was achieved. They were subsequently ground to a fine powder. The
higher heating values (HHVs) of the samples were determined by a
bomb calorimeter (Parr 6400, Parr instrument, USA). The measuring of
HHVs was conducted according to a standard method (EPA5050
method for calorimetric analysis). The sample structures were analyzed
by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (Vertex 70, Bruker,
Germany). The samples were scanned in the resolution range of 4000-
400 cm−1. Briefly, the samples were prepared as fine particles and
converted into pellets, using KBr (120 mg, 1% by weight) as the re-
ference material. To analyze the combustion behavior of the samples, a
thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) was carried out using a TGA Q5000
thermogravimetric analyzer (TA instruments, USA). The analysis was
performed at atmospheric pressure with an air flow rate of
25 mL min−1. The weight loss (TG) and the weight loss rate (DTG) of
the samples were monitored continuously under a non-isothermal
temperature range of 40-1000 °C (heating rate of 20 °C min−1).
The analyses were performed in triplicate and the results were ob-
tained by taking the average of the repeated experiments. To evaluate
the significant difference among the analyses results, one-way ANOVA
(analysis of variance) test was conducted by using Microsoft Office
Excel 2013. The level of significance was determined when the p value
was lower than 0.05 (i.e., p < 0.05).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Physicochemical properties of hydrochars
The physicochemical properties of LW and hydrochars are shown in
Table 1. The carbon content in the hydrochars increased with the HTC
treatment increasing up to 200 °C, while it decreased for temperatures
higher than 220 °C. This was possibly attributed to the deterioration of
the carbon bonds at the material surface, which causes carbon emission
in gaseous form (i.e., CO and CO2) at a relatively high treatment tem-
perature (Garrote et al., 1999; Kim et al., 2017). Interestingly, a drastic
decrease of nitrogen content in the hydrochars was observed under all
treatment temperatures with respect to that of LW. Regarding the initial
nitrogen content in LW (2.2% by dry weight), approximately half of the
nitrogen was released as a gas or liquid phase during the HTC treat-
ment, while the remaining nitrogen remained in the hydrochars at a
concentration of 1.1–1.4% (by dry weight). The lowest nitrogen content
Fig. 1. Layout of experimental setup.
J. Lee, et al. Journal of Environmental Management 247 (2019) 115–120

Table 1
Physicochemical properties of leather waster (LW) and hydrochars.
a
Biomass Hydrochars Low-ranked coals

LW 180 °C 200 °C 220 °C 240 °C 260 °C 280 °C 300 °C Sub-bituminous Lignite

Proximate analysis (wt. %, VM 73.0 ± 1.4 71.2 ± 1.1 70.9 ± 1.5 70.9 ± 1.3 70.8 ± 1.4 70.3 ± 1.1 69.7 ± 1.2 68.7 ± 1.3 33.7–42.5 38.4–39.3
dry) FC 6.9 ± 0.8 7.4 ± 0.6 7.6 ± 0.8 6.9 ± 0.9 6.8 ± 0.9 6.6 ± 0.6 6.2 ± 0.8 6.0 ± 0.7 36.6–49.5 23.5–46.3
Ash 20.1 ± 0.9 21.4 ± 0.7 21.5 ± 0.9 22.2 ± 0.7 22.4 ± 0.8 23.1 ± 0.7 24.1 ± 0.9 25.3 ± 0.7 11.4–16.9 15.3–29.1
Elemental analysis (wt. %, C 48.3 ± 0.4 53.7 ± 0.5 54.5 ± 0.5 52.7 ± 0.4 51.8 ± 0.4 51.7 ± 0.5 50.4 ± 0.7 50.4 ± 0.9 61.8–68.3 61.3
dry) H 8.1 ± 0.1 8.5 ± 0.2 8.6 ± 0.2 8.1 ± 0.1 7.8 ± 0.3 7.8 ± 0.2 7.5 ± 0.4 7.5 ± 0.5 3.6–5.0 4.0–5.4
N 2.2 ± 0.2 1.1 ± 0.2 1.1 ± 0.3 1.2 ± 0.2 1.2 ± 0.3 1.4 ± 0.4 1.2 ± 0.2 1.3 ± 0.2 0.8–1.6 1.0–1.6
O 25.2 ± 0.2 16.2 ± 0.1 15.0 ± 0.1 15.9 ± 0.2 17.0 ± 0.1 17.2 ± 0.1 17.4 ± 0.2 17.9 ± 0.1 16.7–18.8 10.5–15.3
S 0.1 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.1 ± 0.1 0.1 ± 0.1 0.1 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.3 ± 0.1 0.2–8.0 0.6–1.4
Atomic ratio H/C 2.0 ± 0.0 1.9 ± 0.1 1.9 ± 0.1 1.8 ± 0.0 1.8 ± 0.1 1.8 ± 0.1 1.8 ± 0.1 1.9 ± 0.2 0.7 0.8
O/C 0.4 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.2 ± 0.0 0.3 ± 0.0 0.3 ± 0.0 0.2 0.2
Product yield (wt. %, dry) – 86.1 82.9 78.0 77.7 74.8 72.5 70.7 – –

a
Values obtained from previous researches (Van Krevelen, 1950; McKendry, 2002; Umar et al., 2006).

in the hydrochar was observed for treatment temperatures of 180 °C
and 200 °C. On the other hand, the sulfur content showed little change.
There is a potential risk of formation of airborne pollutants (i.e., NOx
and SOx) from the nitrogen and sulfur contained in the material being
combusted. Therefore, the nitrogen and sulfur contents in the hydro-
char are recognized as a limiting factor for its use as solid fuel (Yao
et al., 2017). However, if the produced hydrochars are compared to the
widely used low-ranked coals, the use of hydrochar as an alternative
solid fuel may show a competitive advantage for reducing the emissions
of air pollutants into the atmosphere.
The atomic ratios of H/C (relating to aromaticity) and O/C (relating
to polarity) in hydrochars were calculated from the elemental analysis
data to evaluate the changes of coalification degree during the HTC
treatment of LW (Fig. 2). The use of the van Krevelen diagram, which
compares H/C and O/C ratios in the products, has been suggested (Van
Krevelen, 1950), and has been widely used for evaluating the effect of
the HTC treatment in terms of coalification reaction. In the van Kre-
velen diagram, lower H/C and O/C ratios indicate a higher energy
potential of the products (McKendry, 2002). Furthermore, a solid fuel,
which has low atomic ratios of H/C and O/C, could be recognized as
clean fuel due to less smoke and water vapor release during combustion
(Liu et al., 2013). As shown in Fig. 2, both the H/C and O/C ratios of the
hydrochars are lower than that of LW. This indicates that the coalifi-
cation of LW occurred through a combination of dehydration, dec-
arboxylation, and demethanation reactions. The degrees of coalification
of the hydrochars were relatively similar to that of lignite, which is a
known low-ranked coal. With respect to the treatment temperatures,
the dominant reactions of coalification were dehydration and
demethanation for temperatures below 200 °C and above 220 °C, re-
spectively. The LW used in this study had a high lipid content (48.82,
14.91, and 1.53% by dry weight for lipid, protein, and carbohydrate,
respectively), and this characteristic may control the occurrence of the
demethanation reaction. During the hydrothermal reaction, the di-
electric constant of water decreased greatly when the pressure was
higher than the critical point. Therefore, water can act as a solvent, and
the lipid content in LW can dissolve into the water (Peterson et al.,
2008). Consequently, the removal of lipids by solvent washing had
probably occurred when the inert vapor was discharged after the HTC
treatment. Zhu et al. (2017) reported that the solvent washing is a
reasonable hypothesis to explain the change of properties of hydro-
chars, such as the H/C and O/C ratios, due to the fact that it may in-
fluence the carbon and hydrogen contents in the hydrochar during the
hydrothermal reaction.
The production yields of hydrochars from the HTC treatment pro-
cess are also presented (see Table 1). Lower hydrochar yields were
observed with the higher treatment temperatures, with the yield gra-
dually decreasing from 86.1% (by dry weight) under a treatment tem-
perature of 180 °C, to 70.7% (by dry weight) under 300 °C. The result
was attributed to the above-mentioned deterioration of the carbon
bond, and to an increase of the dissolved organic matter in water (i.e.,
solvent washing) at high treatment temperatures. In the previous stu-
dies of Lee et al. (2018) and Lang et al. (2019), a similar tendency in the
hydrochar yield has been observed, and it has been also reported that
the hydrochar yield can be affected by the treatment temperature.
3.2. Changes in the properties of hydrochar as a solid fuel

Fig. 2. van Krevelen diagram for leather waste (LW) and hydrochars.
Fig. 3 presents the fuel ratio (FC/VM) and the HHVs of LW and
hydrochar products. Due to the different FC and VM contents de-
pending on the HTC treatment temperature, the fuel ratio increased
from 0.09 to 0.11 for treatment temperatures up to 200 °C. A higher fuel
ratio can be achieved by increasing the FC content. This increase is
regarded as an improvement of the fuel property. A high FC content
results in the fuel combusting at a higher firing temperature, and in its
flame being maintained in a less violent and stable state during the
combustion. In contrast, a high VM content may induce an unstable
flame, thus leading to a disproportionate heat balance during fuel
combustion (He et al., 2013).
The HHVs of hydrochar products were analyzed and compared to
that of low-ranked coals to evaluate the potential of using hydrochars as
a co-firing material in power plants (Fig. 3). As shown in the figure, the
HHVs of hydrochars were improved by the HTC treatment except under
relatively high treatment temperatures (i.e., 280 °C and 300 °C). In the
treatment temperature range of 180–260 °C, the HHVs of hydrochars
increased by approximately 120–570 kcal kg−1 with respect to that of
the LW. The highest value of HHV was observed at 200 °C. The HHV

117
J. Lee, et al.
0.15
0.12
Fuel ratio
0.09
0.06
0.03
0.00
LW 180 200
Fig. 3. Fuel ratio and HHV of leather waste (LW) and hydrochars with the HTC treatment temperatures.
values were 5,932, 6,418, 6,508, 6,122, 6,148, 6,055, and
5807 kcal kg−1, for treatment temperatures of 180, 200, 220, 240, 260,
280, and 300 °C, respectively, while the HHV value of the untreated LW
was 5820 kcal kg−1. Considering that the reported HHV values of low-
ranked coals (i.e., sub-bituminous and lignin) in previous studies are in
the range of 5000–5500 kcal kg−1 (Baxter, 2005; Darvell et al., 2010;
Umar et al., 2006), the HHVs of hydrochars can be considered com-
parable to or higher than those of low-ranked coals. Gao et al. (2016)
compared HHV values of hydrochar from eucalyptus bark and that of
coal, and the results were comparable. The HHVs of hydrochars also
complies with the domestic regulation for the heating value of renew-
able solid fuels, as they set the lowest heating value to 3000 kcal kg−1
(i.e., low heating value basis). It is thus confirmed that the hydrochar
produced from LW via the HTC treatment has potential to be used as a
co-firing material or a secondary fuel in power plants to replace a
portion of fossil fuel consumption.
3.3. Combustion profiles of LW and hydrochars
The combustion profiles of LW and hydrochars were examined
through TGA experiments, and the result is provided in Fig. 4. The mass
Fig. 4. TG-DTG curves for combustion profiles of leather waste (LW) and hydrochars.
Journal of Environmental Management 247 (2019) 115–120
8000
Fuel ratio
HHV
6000
HHV (kcal/kg)
4000
2000
0
220 240 260 280 300
Samples
loss curves at various combustion temperatures were compared to
evaluate the removal of moisture and volatile matter, the ignition of
volatile matter and char, and the burn-out of char during the combus-
tion of the test material. The main combustion process could be divided
into three distinct stages according to the peaks appearing in the DTG
curve. In this study, Stage I, II, and III (I: dehydration; II: devolatili-
zation and combustion; III: char combustion) were identified at tem-
peratures < 130, 130–480, and > 480 °C, respectively.
As shown in the Figure, Stage II (devolatilization and combustion)
can be divided into two different regions, corresponding to lower
temperature (130–380 °C) and higher temperature (480–530 °C) ranges.
In general, the thermal decomposition of lipid arises at a higher tem-
perature than that of carbohydrate and protein (Bach and Chen, 2017).
Moreover, the peak of lipid combustion shows some overlap with Stage
III for char combustion, while the prevalent view is that the devolati-
lization of biomass occurs at a relatively lower temperature than that of
char combustion (Biagini and Tognotti, 2006; Xu and Sheng, 2011).
Thus, the observed result, i.e. distinctive peak regions in the same stage,
may be likely due to the lipid-rich characteristic of the LW used in this
study (Liu et al., 2019), and each region seems to represent the com-
bustion of different components in LW and hydrochars. The other
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J. Lee, et al.
distinctive peak for all hydrochars which came from inherent char-
acteristic of the LW used in this study was observed at the temperature
range of 700–780 °C in Stage III. The LW used in this study was col-
lected after a liming step and contained a certain level of lime in bio-
mass. The peak observed in this temperature range relates to the
combustion of lime.
When compared with the results relative to the LW combustion
(Fig. 4 a), the peaks for moisture content at Stage I, and those for
carbohydrate and protein of VM at Stage II (Fig. 4 b-h), decreased in the
hydrochar due to the HTC treatment. Furthermore, the peaks for lipid of
VM at Stage II, and of FC at Stage III were relatively higher than those
observed for LW. The result was attributed to difference in the heat
transfer limitation, which is in accordance with the result described by
Ma et al. (2017) and Zhu et al. (2019). Among the hydrochar samples
(Fig. 4 b-h), the peak for lipid content consistently decreased with the
treatment temperature increasing, while the peak for FC content in-
creased up to a HTC treatment temperature of 200 °C, then gradually
decreased for temperatures higher than 220 °C. These changes in TG
and DTG curve showed the enhanced thermal stability of produced
hydrochar (Sharma et al., 2019). By comparing this result with the
previously described van Krevelen diagram, the elimination of the peak
for FC for treatment temperatures higher than 220 °C can be associated
to the observed demethanation reaction occurring at 220–300 °C. Thus,
the combustion stability of hydrochars produced under 200 °C seemed
to be improved according to increasing of HTC treatment temperature
with consideration of becoming abundant and lessen for FC and VM
contents in hydrochars, respectively.
3.4. Functional groups in LW and hydrochars
Chemical transformations occur during the conversion of biomass
into carbonaceous products during the HTC treatment (Lee et al.,
2019). In order to investigate the functional groups on the surfaces of
LW and hydrochars produced under HTC treatment temperatures, a
FTIR spectra analysis was performed. FTIR spectra of the LW and hy-
drochar samples are presented in Fig. 5. Several main identification
peaks were observed at wavenumbers of 3450–3,250, 3000–2,800,
1,650, 1,550, and 1400 cm−1. The band, located at 3450–3250 cm−1,
was related to the O–H stretching vibration in hydroxyl or carboxyl
groups (Liu et al., 2010; Theoneste et al., 2018). As shown in the Figure,
the peak (for O–H) observed on hydrochars became less intense com-
pared to that observed on LW, and it is related to the dehydration of LW
during the HTC treatment. According to Zhang et al. (2017), the
Fig. 5. FTIR spectra of leather waste (LW) and hydrochars (1: O–H; 2: C–H in
aliphatic -C-Hx; 3: C]O in ketone and amide groups; 4: C]O in carboxylic
group; 5: C–H in aliphatic –C(CH3)2).
119
Journal of Environmental Management 247 (2019) 115–120
existence of the oxygenated functional groups indicates that the hy-
drochar could be a precursor for well carbonized material. The bands
around 3000–2800 cm−1 are associated with C–H in the aliphatic
carbon -C-Hx stretching vibration (de Oliveira Silva et al., 2012). The
intensity of the peak (for C–H) increases with the treatment tempera-
ture increasing up to 200 °C, while a decrease is observed for tem-
peratures above 220 °C. Under the hydrothermal treatment condition,
the miscibility between lipid and water becomes greater as hydrogen
bonding between water molecules weakened (Peterson et al., 2008).
The solubility of lipid in LW increases with the treatment temperature
increasing, and the lipid may become completely miscible when the
supercritical state is attained. Thus, the dissolved lipid in water might
be ejected together with steam, while the relative intensity of hydro-
chars decreases above the treatment temperature of 220 °C. The peaks
at 1650 and 1550 cm−1 are due to the stretching vibration of C]O in
ketone and amide groups, and in the carboxylic group, respectively (de
Oliveira Silva et al., 2012; Li et al., 2011). The changes in the corre-
sponding peak observed on the hydrochars indicate that the dec-
arboxylation reaction predominantly occurred during the HTC treat-
ment below the treatment temperature of 200 °C, confirming the
analysis presented in this study about the H/C and O/C ratios based on
the van Krevelen diagram. The peak at 1400 cm−1 was attributed to the
C–H in the aliphatic carbon –C(CH3)2 (Jian et al., 2015), which may
indicate that the demethanation reaction occurred under high treat-
ment temperatures.
3.5. Practical application and future research perspective of this study
The feasibility of using hydrochar, which is converted from LW, as
solid fuel was confirmed in this study. As it has been confirmed by not
only this study but also recent studies (Fakkaew et al., 2018; Wang
et al., 2019; Wüst et al., 2019), hydrochars from various biomass can
substitute fossil fuel using in a typical combustion process. Considering
abandoned biomass can be used as feedstock in the HTC process, re-
duction of waste amount for final disposal appeals another benefit of
the HTC treatment for LW. From the advantages (i.e., energy recovery
and waste management), a practical application can be suggested. In
case leather fleshing waste, which generally comprise about 50% of the
total LW generation from leather industries, converted into hydrochar,
the cost for LW treatment will be reduced in half and the benefit of
using hydrochar as solid fuel will offset the rest cost for LW treatment
except leather fleshing waste. To do this, cost-comparative analysis
with probable scenarios and pilot scale test for verification of scenario
analysis should be conducted. The aims of the scenario analysis have to
include 1) determination of the optimum HTC treatment condition for
converting LW into hydrochar, 2) evaluation of the environmental
impacts of each scenario related to reduction of waste, and 3) identi-
fication of possible pathways to achieve the goal of using hydrochar as a
co-firing fuel in power plants.
4. Conclusions
This study focused on the hydrothermal treatment of LW and on the
feasibility of using the produced hydrochar as a solid fuel, in terms of
waste treatment and energy recovery. From the results, it can be con-
cluded that not only the hydrochar produced from LW can replace fossil
fuel using, but also can prove to be an effective alternative as a clean
energy source. Thus, the HTC of LW provides an optional approach for
producing an alternative solid fuel from abandoned biomass, with the
benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of fossil
fuels.
Acknowledgements
This paper was supported by Konkuk University in 2018.
J. Lee, et al.
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