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Abstract
Hydrocarbons enriched biofuels has received great attention to replace fossil-based hydrocarbons due to its potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Energy crops such as sweet sorghum and energy sorghum produced from marginal lands can be converted into hydrocarbon-rich biofuels. This study has developed a two-stage hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) technology followed by hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) from sweet sorghum bagasse to produce 12 wt. % of hydrocarbons and 27 wt. % of sugar streams with an overall carbon conversion efficiency of 38%. Alternatively, the effect of torrefaction pretreatment on the catalytic fast pyrolysis of energy sorghum using red mud was investigated. The catalytic pyrolysis of sorghum favored the improved ketone yield (5 wt. %), while the combined torrefaction pretreatment with catalytic fast pyrolysis favored the hydrocarbon yield (0.78 wt.%). Techno-economic assessment study concluded that the minimum selling price of biofuels from 2-stage HTL pathway was 52.3 % less expensive than that of combined torrefaction and catalytic fast pyrolysis pathway