Thermochemical liquefaction of indonesian biomass residues

Eighteen kinds of biomass residues in Indonesia were liquefied to heavy oil in hot-compressed water with sodium carbonate as the catalyst at 300°C and around 10 MPa. The oil was obtained in the range of the yields between 21–36 wt% on an organic basis. Typically the oils had almost the same properties; carbon, around 70 wt%, hydrogen, 7 wt%, nitrogen, <1 wt%, calorific value, around 30 kJ/g, and viscosity, >105 mPa.s. The result of the simple energy balance estimation shows that this liquefaction process might become a net energy producer.