TY - JOUR A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Dorgerloh, Ute A1 - Helmis, M. A1 - Mumme, J. A1 - Diakité, M. A1 - Nehls, Irene T1 - Hydrothermally carbonized plant materials: Patterns of volatile organic compounds detected by gas chromatography N2 - The nature and concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in chars generated by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is of concern considering their application as soil amendment. Therefore, the presence of VOCs in solid HTC products obtained from wheat straw, biogas digestate and four woody materials was investigated using headspace gas chromatography. A variety of potentially harmful benzenic, phenolic and furanic volatiles along with various aldehydes and ketones were identified in feedstock- and temperature-specific patterns. The total amount of VOCs observed after equilibration between headspace and char samples produced at 270 °C ranged between 2000 and 16,000 µg/g (0.2–1.6 wt.%). Depending on feedstock 50–9000 µg/g of benzenes and 300–1800 µg/g of phenols were observed. Substances potentially harmful to soil ecology such as benzofurans (200–800 µg/g) and p-cymene (up to 6000 µg/g in pine wood char) exhibited concentrations that suggest restrained application of fresh hydrochar as soil amendment or for water purification. KW - Hydrochar KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Flame ionization detection KW - Phenols KW - Benzenes PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.12.102 SN - 0960-8524 SN - 1873-2976 VL - 130 SP - 621 EP - 628 PB - Elsevier Applied Science CY - Barking, Essex AN - OPUS4-27616 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Diakité, M. A1 - Paul, Andrea A1 - Jäger, Christian A1 - Pielert, J. A1 - Mumme, J. T1 - Chemical and morphological changes in hydrochars derived from microcrystalline cellulose and investigated by chromatographic, spectroscopic and adsorption techniques N2 - Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) can be used for converting the biomass into a carbon-rich material, whose application as a fuel requires higher heating value, whereas soil amendment needs stable carbon. This work was focused on the characterization of hydrochars derived from microcrystalline cellulose. The chars were investigated using elemental analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller technique, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Raman, Fourier transform infrared, and electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Severity in temperature between 230 and 270 °C with reaction times between 2 and 10 h only affect the carbon content moderately. The results show that aromatization of HTC chars correlates well with temperature, which was further supported by the increase of organic radicals with decreasing g values at higher temperatures. Based on these results, the energetic use of chars favors mild HTC (T < 230 °C and t ≤ 6 h), while the soil amendement favors serve conditions (T ≥ 230 °C, and t > 6 h). KW - Hydrothermal carbonization KW - Hydrochar KW - Microcrystalline cellulose KW - NMR-spectroscopy KW - ATR-FTIR-spectroscopy PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.09.129 SN - 0960-8524 SN - 1873-2976 VL - 150 SP - 98 EP - 105 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Barking, Essex AN - OPUS4-29824 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -