IIT Mandi uses orange peel to turn biomass-derived chemicals to biofuel

The method developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi will help in producing clean green power from biomass. 

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi have used hydrochar derived from orange peels as catalyst to convert biomass-derived chemicals into biofuel precursors. The research will help to develop biomass-based fuel to overcome the socio-political instabilities associated with dwindling petroleum reserves.  

The findings of the research led by Venkata Krishnan, School of Basic Sciences, IIT Mandi, have been published in the journal, ‘Green Chemistry’. Biomass-derived products from naturally occurring materials are currently the fourth most-significant energy source that can meet the energy demand after coal, oil and natural gas in the country. Lignocellulosic biomass obtained from forestry and agricultural waste, for example, can potentially be converted to a variety of useful chemicals by various methods.  

Of these methods, the use of catalysts for the conversion is particularly useful because such processes can be carried out with minimal energy input and the type of product obtained from the biomass can be controlled through the right choice of catalysts and reaction conditions. Venkata Krishnan said, “One of the driving interests among the renewable energy community is the development of relatively clean and energy efficient processes to convert biomass into useful chemicals, including fuel.”  

The researchers heated dried orange peel powder with citric acid under pressure in a hydrothermal reactor (a lab-level “pressure cooker”) for many hours. The hydrochar that was produced was then treated with other chemicals to introduce acidic sulfonic, phosphate and nitrate functional groups to it.  

This is the first comparative study in which the three types of acid functionalisation have been assessed. The researchers also performed green metric calculations and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) studies to gain deeper insights into the catalytic activity of sulfonic, nitrate and phosphate functionalized hydrochar derived from orange peels. 

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