Biomass Waste Processing into Artificial Humic Substances

Abstract To address the biomass waste processing problem and transform it into refractory forms of carbon, recently suggested hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of biomass in alkaline environment can be considered as a prospective and climate neutral approach. Biomass HTC provides possibilities to obtain form of biochar (hydrochar) and artificial humic substances, however the conditions of the HTC have not been much studied. Optimization by Response Surface Methodology of the HTC using microwave treatment with three experimental variables (treatment temperature, length of microwave treatment, amount of biomass per volume) provides the possibility to significantly increase the yield of humic substances at the same time reducing the duration of the treatment. However, with an increase in the yield of humic substances, the yield of hydrochar decreases, thus supporting possibilities to obtain most needed biomass waste processing product.