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Energy
EnergyProcedia
Procedia148 (2018) 000–000
00 (2017) 431–438

73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering Association (ATI 2018),
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
12–14 September 2018, Pisa, Italy
73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering Association (ATI 2018),
12–14 September 2018, Pisa, Italy
Water hyacinth biomass: chemical and thermal pre-treatment for
energetic
Water hyacinth utilization
The 15thbiomass:
International in anaerobic
chemical
Symposium and
on digestion
thermal
District process
Heatingpre-treatment
and Cooling for
energetic utilization in anaerobic
M.a, Castellucci S.a, the digestion a
* process
Assessing theCarlini
feasibility of using Mennuni heatA.demand-outdoor
temperature function
Carlinioffor
University M.a,aCastellucci
Tuscia,
long-term S.a,district
Mennuni
DEIm, Largo dell’Università,
heat
Viterbo 01100, * demand forecast
A.aItaly
a

a
University of Tuscia, DEIm, Largo dell’Università, Viterbo 01100, Italy
Abstract I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
a
Abstract
The IN+ Center
water for Innovation,
hyacinth (EichhorniaTechnology and Policy
crassipes) Researchaquatic
is a floating - Instituto Superior
plant Técnico,
belonging Av. Pontederiaceae
to the Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon,
family. This Portugal
plant, native
b
to South America, grows on Veolia
the Recherche
surface of & Innovation,
lakes, rivers 291
and Avenue
canals Dreyfous
in Daniel,
tropical and78520 Limay, France
sub-tropical areas. Because of its human
c
The water Département
hyacinth Systèmes Énergétiques
(Eichhornia crassipes) isetahigh
Environnement
floating - IMT Atlantique, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, 44300family.
Nantes, This
France
transport in other tropical climate areas and its growaquatic
rate, the plant belonging
water hyacinthto istheconsidered
Pontederiaceae
one of the prominent plant, native
invading
to South America,
macrophytes growswater
in eutrophic on the surface
basins; theof lakes,ofrivers
quality waterand canals
in those in tropical
regions and sub-tropical
have been areas. Because
negatively affected. The water ofhyacinth
its human is
transport in other
characterized by a tropical climate
high content of areas and its high
lignocellulosic grow rate,
biomass, with the water
a 10% hyacinth
average is considered
content of lignin, one
useful of in
theboth
prominent invading
thermochemical
macrophytes
and biochemical
Abstract in eutrophic
processes.water The basins;
anaerobicthedigestion
quality ofprocess
water inshould
those beregions have been
considered negatively
as a very affected.
attractive solutionThetowater
produce hyacinth is
biogas.
characterized
This by a highneeds
kind of biomass content to beof lignocellulosic
chemically andbiomass, thermallywith a 10%
treated average
before beingcontent
directlyof involved
lignin, useful
into intheboth thermochemical
anaerobic digestion
District
and
reaction. heating
biochemical
This work networks
processes.
aims to The are
givecommonly
anaerobic addressedof
a detaileddigestion
analysis inwater
theshould
process literature
hyacinth as one of
be biomass
considered the
as amost
energy very effective
attractive
properties solutions
of itstofor
solution
in terms decreasing
produce
use the
biogas.
in anaerobic
greenhouse
This
digestion of gas
kind processes, emissions
biomass needsfrom
before andto be the building
targeted sector.
chemically
after These
and thermally
treatments, systems
treated require
highlighting before high investments
being directlythat
any improvements which
involved are
shouldinto be returned to through
the anaerobic
made the heat
digestion
the procedures
bysales.
reaction. Due
Thisto
literature. the aims
work
Related changed to give
process climate
parameters conditions
a detailed alsoand
analysis
are of building renovation
water hyacinth
investigated. biomass
The conducted policies,
energy heat demand
properties
experimental in in
campaigntermstheshows
offuture
its how
usecould
inthe decrease,
anaerobic
thermal
prolonging the
digestion processes, investment return
before and after period.
targeted
pre-treatment at low temperatures increases thetreatments,
volatile solidshighlighting
content fromany 57%
improvements
to 74% (w/w),that should
decreasingbe made
the ashto content.
the procedures
byThe main scope
literature. of this
Related paper parameters
process is to assess the
are feasibility of usingThe
also investigated. the heat demandexperimental
conducted – outdoor temperature
campaign shows function for the
how heatthermal
demand
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
pre-treatment at low temperatures increases the volatile solids content from 57% to 74% (w/w), decreasing the ash content.
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
© renovation
2018 The scenariosPublished
Authors. were developed (shallow,
by Elsevier Ltd. intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
compared
This withaccess
is an open resultsarticle
from aunder dynamic heatBY-NC-ND
the CC demand model, licensepreviously developed and validated by the authors.
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection
© 2018 The and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal
Selection
The results andAuthors.
showed
Published
peer-review under only
that when
by Elsevier Ltd.
responsibility of the scientific
weather change committee
is considered, of the 73rd
the margin Conference
of error could beofacceptable
the Italianfor Thermal Machines
some applications
Machines
This Engineering
is an open
Engineering Association
access article(ATIunder (ATI
the CC2018).
BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
(the error inAssociation
annual demand 2018).
was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal
scenarios, the hyacinth;
Keywords:
error value increased up toprocess;
59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
Machines water anaerobic digestion
Engineering Association (ATI 2018). biomass characterization; water hyacinth chemical pre-treatment; water hyacinth low-
The value of slope
temperature pre-treatment. coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
Keywords: water hyacinth; anaerobic digestion process; biomass characterization; water hyacinth chemical pre-treatment; water hyacinth low-
renovationpre-treatment.
temperature scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-0761-357416.
© E-mail
2017 The Authors.
address: Published by Elsevier Ltd.
[email protected]
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-0761-357416.
Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2018 The
E-mail address: Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
[email protected]
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Keywords:
Selection and Heat demand;under
peer-review Forecast; Climate change
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. responsibility of the scientific
Published by Elsevier Ltd. committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering
Association (ATI 2018).
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering
Association (ATI 2018).
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1876-6102 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 73rd Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines
Engineering Association (ATI 2018).
10.1016/j.egypro.2018.08.106
432 M. Carlini et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 431–438
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

1. Introduction

New energy sources need to be considered to face the increasing energy demand. Renewable sources should
provide a suitable alternative solution to fossil-based energy sources [1]–[5]. Some examples of renewable energy
sources exploitation are hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass-based power [6]–[9]. In this sense,
biomasses should be considered a clean energy source, renewable and available anywhere. To optimize energy
production from biomasses, those have to meet the following general requirements: high cellulose content and low
lignin content, easily degradable, spontaneous and possibly perennial growth, high resistance to pests and plant
diseases. Indeed, the Water Hyacinth (WH), also known as Eichhornia crassipes, is suitable for these requirements.
The WH is a floating aquatic plant belonging to the family of the Postederiaceae. This species grows on lakes, rivers
and canals water surface in tropical and sub-tropical areas. In recent years, its capacity for asexual reproduction and
adaptation to many habitats justified its introduction among the 100 most invasive alien species in the world [10].
As a plant that grows on watery surfaces, it forms extensive floating carpets not anchored to the water basin bed.
During the summer period, the WH produces capsules full of seeds that germinate in water. The hibernation period
of these seeds is very long, up to 20 years, although it sprouts instantly as soon as the climatic conditions are optimal
[11]. Starting from a single fragment, the water hyacinth could reproduce other plants genetically identical to the
mother plant [12]. Studies about WH diffusion highlight a huge growth rate: the water hyacinth could duplicate its
population in a 12-days period, showing an increase of about +8% in the next period [13]. Then, a single plant could
generate an infestation. Serious issues about Eichhornia crassipes infestation are due to its capacity to adapt rapidly
to tropical and sub-tropical climate conditions. In fact, most affected regions are located around 40 degrees north
and south latitude [14].
WH is a plant native to South America (Amazon basin) [15] and it has been proliferating alarmingly in tropical
and sub-tropical areas of Africa, Australia, South America, USA and South Asia. Its diffusion is related to the
1887’s cotton world exhibition mainly, where water hyacinth was distributed as an ornamental plant. The very first
areas to be affected by its huge growth were California, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas [16]. The water
hyacinth diffusion is Africa was caused by Rwanda German colonies where WH has been used as a decoration [17].
Poor regions, such as the African ones, has been extremely affected by Eichhornia crassipes infestation, since its
tendency to obstruct hydraulic turbines feeding conducts and irrigation channels [18]–[21]. Also, the navigability of
water basins, infested by WH, has been negatively affected. The increasing grow rate of WH should be also coupled
to malaria and bilharzia diffusion.
In the last years, many actions to preserve natural habitats by huge water hyacinth diffusion have been made [22].
The main actions to remove the water hyacinth, reducing the infestation, should be summarized as follows:

• biological control: it is a long-term method but the most economically and sustainably advantageous. Natural
WH parasites such as moths, beetles and fungi are introduced into the infested basin to counteract the plant
diffusion on free water surface [15], [23]. However, intense monitoring and supervision activities are required, to
avoid any damage to the natural habitat;
• physic control: that’s the most used method, consisting in mechanical elimination of WH on the surface of the
water basin. This kind of control is not advantageous by an economical point of view, Furthermore, it could be
applied from time to time only on a small area [19];
• chemical control: this method requires herbicides, so it could be a good solution only for small areas. At the same
time, water quality is negatively affected by chemical substances diffusion [19].

Infestation should be prevented or at least reduced by using Eichhornia crassipes for animal nutrition and
organic fertilizers production [24], [25]. Water hyacinth features have to be considered to identify the most suitable
treatment to convert it into energy: it is characterized by a low lignin content (<10%) and high cellulose and
hemicellulose content (around 20% and 30% respectively) [26], [27]. A detailed overview in terms of cellulose,
hemicellulose and lignin content is given by Tab. 1.

Table 1. Eichhornia crassipes components in percentage ratios.

WH component Cellulose (%) Hemicellulose (%) Lignin (%) Others (%)
Leaves 15,42± 0,08 29,75 ± 0,15 9,79 ± 0,06 45,04 ± 0,29
 M. Carlini et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 431–438 433
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3

Stems 17,14 ± 0,12 21,82 ± 0,06 8,01 ± 0,07 53,03 ± 0,25

Whole plant 18,07 ± 0,20 28,21 ± 0,11 7,03 ± 0,09 46,69 ± 0,40

The low lignin content allows to convert hemicellulose and cellulose into fermentable sugars easily. Such
characteristic makes WH a suitable source to produce energy. WH should be used as a biomass into energy and
biofuel production through both biochemical and thermochemical processes [28]–[35]. These processes should be
considered as a possible way to make the infestation of plants. Therefore, anaerobic digestion (AD) could be
consider as a suitable method to produce biomethane from an appropriately pretreated water hyacinth [36].
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biochemical conversion process that could be used to produce biogas (biomethane)
from residual biomasses [37]–[39]. No pollution is provided by the AD procedure, since it aims to exploit
microorganisms’ activity which consume biomass substrate within the reactor. The synergy between different
populations of anaerobic bacteria, which decompose the organic substrate, leads to biogas (BG) production. The BG
is composed mainly by CH4 and CO2. Tree types of microbes could be identified: hydrolytic, acidifying and
methane-creating bacteria. AD process evolves correctly in the temperature range −5 ÷ 70°C. Anaerobic bacteria
could be also classified by using the temperature value: psychrophilic bacteria (𝑇𝑇𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 < 20°C), mesophilic bacteria
( 20°C < 𝑇𝑇𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 < 40°C ) and thermophile bacteria ( 𝑇𝑇𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟 > 45°C ). Reaction temperature deeply affects the
digestion process, in detail its biochemical kinetics. Infestation of Eichhornia crassipes can be faced by its
exploitation in anaerobic digestion processes to produce biogas [36]. First, a pre-treatment analysis to adapt WH as a
feeding biomass to the AD reactor is needed. In fact, degradation of organic substrate by bacterial attack could be
improved by feeding a pre-treated biomass: bacteria are not able to digest macro-molecules, such as cellulose and
hemicellulose. It follows the aim of the pre-treatment: once macro-molecules have been reduced to simple
molecules, they should be digested by bacteria easily. Organic acids and simple sugars degradation is much faster
than the one of more complex molecules, such as amino-acids, fibers and lipids. To solve this issue WH should be
pre-treated before being inserted into the anaerobic digestion reactor. Pre-treatment processes could be described as
follows:

• mechanic and physic pre-treatment: solid particles dimensions are reduced by shredding or grinding systems, to
increase contact surfaces against bacterial enzymes while the hydrolysis occurs.
• thermal pre-treatment: high temperatures are reached to promote biomass degradation. One of the most suitable
thermal pre-treatment consist in consists in hydrolyzing part of the hemicellulose through the supplied heat. In
this way some acids can be obtained to further catalyze the reaction. To higher pre-treatment temperatures
corresponds higher degradation of organic substance.
• chemical pre-treatment: some alkaline (caustic soda, calcium hydroxide o ammonia) or acid (sulphuric or nitric
acid) chemical substances could be added to the biomass, first to influence chemical bounds of fibrous fractions
and then to increase their digestibility;
• enzymatic and biological pre-treatment: some enzymes are used to promote molecular reduction to
monosaccharides glucose, that should be digested easily by anaerobic digestion bacteria [40].

Once biomass characteristics have been experimentally determined, pretreatment should be applied to the input
biomass. This work is focused on low-temperature pretreatment and alkali pretreatment effects on biomass-to-
methane conversion, involving anaerobic digestion process. Actually, the aim of pretreatments is to reduce the ashes
content and increase the volatile solids, to reach a maximum production rate in terms of biomethane through
anaerobic digestion. Both low-temperature and alkali pretreatments are expected to increase VS and reduce ash
content, since preliminary hydrolysis is promoted to break the bonds of macro-molecules and facilitate subsequent
digestion by anaerobic bacteria.

2. Materials and methods

The biomass needs to be characterized before being involved in the energy conversion process. In fact, the
anaerobic digestion process depends strictly on biomass composition [41]. In particular, parameters such as moisture
content, ashes content, volatile substances content and C, H, N composition ratios have to be determined
434 M. Carlini et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 431–438
4 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

experimentally. To determine the biomass moisture content, refer to UNI EN 14774-1 [42], UNI EN 14774-2 [43],
UNI EN 14774-3 [44], which describes the method of moisture calculation for a biofuel sample by drying in an
oven. Furthermore, a laboratory scale sensitive to 0,1 g is required. Standards CEN/TS 14778-1 [45] and CEN/TS
14778-2 [46] give the procedures to prepare the biomass samples. The procedure should be summarized as follows:
a WH sample is inserted into a clean and empty tank (both WH sample and the clean empty tank masses are
known); once the system mass has been measured, it is dried in the oven at 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏 ± 𝟐𝟐°𝐂𝐂. The drying process ends
once a constant mass has been reached: this means the discrepancy between two successive weighing values is less
than 0,2%. The standards provide reports for the percentage calculation of both moisture content on a wet basis and
the moisture content on a dry basis. Once the humidity of the biomass sample has been computed, it is necessary to
grind the dried mass to reduce its particle size. Using a sieve allows to obtain particles with a maximum size of
about 1 mm. The UNI EN 14775 [47] standard provides indications for determining the ash content of a biomass. In
this case, the required instrumentations are an electric oven capable of reaching temperatures of about 550 ° C
within the time established by the regulations, a laboratory scale with a resolution of 0.1 mg and a dryer that can
prevent the absorption of ambient humidity. The UNI CEN/TS 14780 standard [48] describes sample preparation:
the particles must have a maximum dimension of 1 mm. Two crucibles have to be placed in the oven at a
temperature of 550 ± 10 ° C for 60 minutes. Then, they have to be extracted and cooled for 5-10 minutes on a heat-
resistant surface, before being inserted in the dryer. Once the environmental temperature has been reached, each
crucible is weighted by using the laboratory scale. Subsequently, 1 g of WH is added to each of the crucibles. The
two samples are placed in the cold oven, increasing the temperature uniformly until reaching 250°C. After 60
minutes at constant temperature, the temperature is increased up to 𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓𝟓 ± 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏°𝐂𝐂. Water hyacinth samples crucibles
are exposed to this temperature for the following 120 minutes. At the end of this high temperature thermal process,
the crucibles are cooled and placed within the dryer as described above. Once the environmental temperature has
been reached, the water hyacinth crucibles are weighted. Measured mass values are used to compute ashes content
on dry basis by standard. The procedure for calculating the content of volatile substances is described by the UNI
EN 15148 standard [49]. In this case, instruments such as an oven capable of reaching 900 ± 10 ° C, cylindrical
crucibles of inert material with lid and a scale with a resolution of 0.1 mg are needed. The CEN/TS 14780 standard
is used for sample preparation: the maximum particle size must be 1 mm. Crucibles with lids are placed in the oven
until the temperature of 900 ± 10 ° C is reached, which is maintained for 7 minutes. Then, the crucibles are cooled at
room temperature from 5 to 10 minutes, before being inserted into the dryer. This phase of the procedure is
necessary to determine the reference masses. Therefore, 1 g of WH is inserted in the crucibles and the procedure is
repeated. The exposure time at 900 ± 10°C is equal to 7 min ± 1 s. Once the crucibles have been cooled again at
room temperature, they are placed into the dryer and then the post-drying masses are determined again. The use of
the formula reported by UNI EN 15148 allows to calculate the percentage of the mass of volatile substances on a dry
basis. To determine the biomass content of C, H and N reference standard is UNI EN 15104 [50]. The tools needed
in this case are a CHN, thin sheets of metal to wrap the sample to be analyzed and a scale with a precision of 0.1 mg.
The procedure consists in placing in a metal capsule 0,15 g of WH, to be inserted into the CHN which, through the
display, returns the values of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. In the specific case of this experimentation, we opted
for smaller samples (respectively equal to 0.0934 g, 0.0922 g, 0.022, and 0.0950 g) since the water hyacinth powder
is very voluminous but light: for this reason, 0.15 g of sample would require a capsule that is too large and
incompatible with CHN.
The experimental campaign was conducted in the CIRDER (Centro Interdipartimentale per la Ricerca e
Diffusione delle Energie Rinnovabili) laboratory of the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy). The muffle furnace
(ME320) is able to reach a maximum temperature of 1100°C. It’s characterized by a compatible heating-required
timing referring to UNI standards. The interior walls are made of refractory material. The muffle is used to
determine the ash and volatile substances composing the biomass. Crucibles of different sizes could be inserted into
the muffle. They are made of ceramic, silicon or otherwise resistant material due to high temperatures they are
exposed to. To reach the desired particle size for each biomass characterization procedure, it is necessary to grind
and sieve it by means of a knife mill (Retsch SM100) and an automatic sieving machine (Retsch AS200 Control),
which allows to obtain different grain sizes. The scales with an accuracy of 0,1 g (Ohaus Adventurer Pro) and 0.1
mg (Mettler Toledo XS Excellence) are used for weighing operations. A further electric furnace (Digiheat P Selecta)
is used in drying operations of biomass for evaporation of the water content, at a temperature of 105 ± 2 ° C, flanked
 M. Carlini et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 431–438 435
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5

by a regenerable salts dryer which keeps dry biomass over time, preventing ambient humidity from being absorbed.
A CHN machine (LECO CHN 2000) is available to compute the carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen content of the
analyzed biomass. Then, alkali and low-temperature pretreatments influence on SV and ashes content has been
analyzed.
Water hyacinth is mixed with deionized water for 3 hours, using a mass ratio of 1:4 (WH:H 2O) at a temperature
of 80°C as suggested by [51]. Particles size of the dried biomass (shown in Fig. 1(a)) has been reduced to 1 mm by
using the Retsch SM100, obtaining the WH powder in Fig. 1(b). The procedure described by [51] shows a critical
issue to be solved: using a 1:4 mass ratio between WH and deionized water, complete mixture could not be reached.
In fact, because of Eichhornia crassipes powder dimensions, the WH does not enter into solution with the deionized
water. Moreover, even if 80°C process temperature is far from the evaporation point of the fluid, a water mass
reduction should be appreciated within the solution. Thus, using a 1:4 mass ration of water hyacinth and deionized
water at a temperature of 80°C, complete evaporation of liquid should be reached before the 3 hours mixing process
ends. Due to these problems, experimental procedure exposed by [51] required some modifications in terms of
process temperature and WH:H2O mass ratio. The temperature was fixed to 70°C and the chosen mass ration was
1:35. Then, 10 g of water hyacinth has been added to 350 g of deionized water: the 3-hours long mixing process and
the temperature were provided by a magnetic hot plate as shown in Fig. 1(c). At the end of the mixing and heating
procedure, the mixture sample was filtered by using a 125 µm mesh diameter sieve. Fig. 1(d) shows the low-
temperature pretreatment resulting mixture.

Fig. 1. (a) Dried WH; (b) dried WH powder, (c) mixing and heating of WH-H2O blend, (d) low temperature pretreated WH biomass.

Referring to the alkali pretreatment and to the process parameters exposed by author in [52], water hyacinth
particles dimension has to be reduced up to 2,6 µm. Distilled water and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution was
mixed considering a 50% NaOH concentration per VS gram. Then, a 35°C reaction temperature was conducted for
72 hours. No ratio between WH and demineralized water is given by author in [52]. For this reason, the WH:H2O
ratio has been obtained by means of the low-temperature pretreatment experimentation. However, some
modification are required: particle size is 1 mm and the mass WH:H 2O ratio has be fixed to 1:20 (10 g of water
hyacinth corresponds to 200 g of distilled water). The NaOH mass is computed by using the VS content on dry base
of water hyacinth, obtained as aforementioned. Considering 10 g of dried biomass and a 57% content of volatile
substances within the biomass, it follows 5,7 g of VS. Once fixed a sodium hydroxide concentration of 50%
[NaOH]/gVS, 2,85 gNaOH have to be added to the blend. Then, the solution is inserted into the oven at 35°C for 72
hours, as discussed by [52]; the resulting mixture is dried at 105°C. The dried blend is then characterized by the
procedures discussed in the previous paragraphs (moisture content, ashes content and C, H, N composition).

3. Results

Six samples have been extracted by the initial biomass. Three of those have been pretreated by alkali
pretreatment and the remaining three have been involved in a low-temperature pretreatment. First, the non-
pretreated biomass samples have been characterized: moisture, volatile substances, ashes, carbon, hydrogen and
nitrogen contents have been computed by the procedures aforementioned. Those values are reported in Tab. 2. Then,
436 M. Carlini et al. / Energy Procedia 148 (2018) 431–438
6 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

samples have been pretreated by low temperature and alkali pretreatments. Characterization results related to
pretreated biomass are available in Tab. 3, for low temperature pretreatment (LTPT) and alkali one (APT),
respectively. In each case, the experimental campaign has been focused on the pretreatment influence on ashes and
volatile substances content.

Table 2. Non-pretreated (NPT) biomass sample characterization results.

Parameter Value [%]
Ashes content 14,59 ± 0,31
VS content 46,76 ± 0,83
Moisture content 92,28 ± 0,43
C 42,69 ± 0,39
H 4,87 ± 0,19
N 2,96 ± 0,34

Table 3. Comparison between sample characterization results.

Parameter NPT LTPT APT
Ashes content 14,59 ± 0,31 11,48 ± 0,44 36,63 ± 0,34
VS content 46,76 ± 0,83 86,08 ± 0,71 41,95 ± 1,88

A reduction in terms of ashes content could be appreciated while low temperature pretreatment is applied to the
feeding biomass. Moreover, volatile substances content increases, resulting in improved biomass digestibility. Alkali
pretreatment seems to induce negative changes to the biomass digestibility: ashes content increases and VS content
decreases, resulting in an inhibiting effect on the anaerobic digestion process.

4. Conclusions

Energy production by using an infesting plant, such as water hyacinth, should be an important opportunity to
solve related proliferation problems. Eichhornia crassipes should be converted into biomass briquette, syngas or
bioethanol to be exploited as a biofuel. By involving other organic substances, in anaerobic digestion processes for
example, an increase of biomass digestibility by anaerobic bacteria could be obtained. Those biomasses (e.g. water
hyacinth) characterized by higher contents of lignocellulosic substances should be pretreated, in order to maximize
conversion rates in terms of methane by anaerobic digestion processes. The pretreatment allows to break macro
molecules bonds and then hydrolyzing the biomass before being inserted into the AD reactor. Higher conversion
rates in biomethane could be reached by setting up a co-digestion process, that is using a mixture of animal waste or
cellulosic compounds with the WH. In this study a water hyacinth characterization has been conducted by obtaining
the CHN content, ashes content and volatile substances content of a WH sample. Differences between experimental
values and parameters by literature have to be attributed to the variability of the analyzed biomass. Referring to
water hyacinth involvement in anaerobic digestion process, the low temperature pretreatment and alkali pretreatment
influence on WH biomass characteristics has been investigated. Contrary to what is described in the literature, the
thermal pretreatment guarantees better biogas yields if compared with and alkali pretreatment, which is rather
ineffective. Further works will be related to quantify biomethane production by pretreated water hyacinth biomasses
through anaerobic digestion. Acid and high temperature pretreatment will be also investigated to verify digestibility
yield of water hyacinth biomass by anaerobic bacteria. It could be interesting to evaluate temperature influence on
alkali pretreatment, since many studies show a volatile substances increase.
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