The Valle del Cauca region in Colombia is a significant producer of sugar cane, resulting in large quantities of agricultural residues (green harvesting residues (GHRs)). To ensure sustainable management of these residues, it is crucial to implement proper treatment and disposal technologies while also reusing waste to produce biogas, bioelectricity, or biofuels. The biomass hydrothermal carbonization process offers a means to convert these residues into useful products that serve as fuels or valuable energy materials. This thermal treatment involves the use of water as a solvent and reagent within the biomass's internal structure. In this study, sugar cane cutting residues were collected with relatively high moisture content of 8.5% wt. These residues were subjected to carbonization temperatures ranging from 200 to 300 °C, along with water/GHR ratios between 5/1 and 10/1. The properties of the resulting hydrocarbons were analyzed by using proximate and ultimate analysis. The objective was to produce hydrochar samples with the highest higher heating value (HHV) and energy density compared with the GHRs. The HHV value of the hydrochar showed a significant increase of 69.6% compared with that of the GHRs, reaching 43.5 MJ/kg. Besides, process parameters were optimized for mass yields, energy yields, and ash content. This exploration led us to investigate a new temperature range between 280 and 320 °C, allowing us to establish an optimal value for the hydrochar's properties.

The Colombian sugarcane industry yields significant residues, categorized as agricultural and industrial. While bagasse, a widely studied industrial residue, is employed for energy recovery through combustion, agricultural residues are often left in fields. This study assesses the combustion behavior of these residues in typical collection scenarios. Additionally, it encompasses the characterization of residues from genetically modified sugarcane varieties in Colombia, potentially exhibiting distinct properties not previously documented. Non-isothermal thermogravimetrical analysis was employed to study the thermal behavior of sugarcane industrial residues (bagasse and pith) alongside agricultural residues from two different sugarcane varieties. This facilitated the determination of combustion reactivity through characteristic combustion process temperatures and technical parameters like ignition and combustion indexes. Proximate, elemental, and biochemical analyses revealed slight compositional differences. Agricultural residues demonstrated higher ash content (up to 34%) due to foreign matter adhering during harvesting, as well as soil and mud attachment during collection. Lignin content also varied, being lower for bagasse and pith, attributed to the juice extraction and milling processes that remove soluble lignin. Thermogravimetric analysis unveiled a two-stage burning process in all samples: devolatilization and char formation (~170°C), followed by char combustion (~310°C). Characteristic temperatures displayed subtle differences, with agricultural residues exhibiting lower temperatures and decomposition rates, resulting in reduced ignition and combustion indexes. This indicates heightened combustion reactivity in industrial residues, attributed to their elevated oxygen percentage, leading to more reactive functional groups and greater combustion stability compared to agricultural residues. This information is pertinent for optimizing sugarcane residues utilization in energy applications.

The integration of process safety education into chemical engineering programs has become a pressing necessity for chemical engineers worldwide. However, some chemical engineering programs have not yet incorporated process safety into their curricula. The purpose of this Viewpoint is to encourage a discussion on the imperative of mobilizing a global update of chemical engineering education and integrating process safety. This initiative will not only inspire experts in the field to support those seeking this change but also encourage new participants, especially from countries that have not yet embraced this much-needed transformation in chemical engineering education.

Wet coal beneficiation in Colombia is prohibitive due to the high cost and scarcity of commonly used dense media. The practical value of this study is that it demonstrates for the first time that a common fertilizer, calcium nitrate, can be used in the beneficiation of low-grade Colombian coals. Three high-ash low-grade Colombian coals (Valle, Cundinamarca, and Antioquia) commonly used in Colombian sugar mill stoker furnaces were tested. Coal mineralogy and prevalence were analyzed before and after washing using mineral liberation analysis. The swelling potential of the coals was assessed using a novel application of thermal mechanical analysis (TMA) and an ash fusion oven (AFO). Calcium nitrate reduced ash levels across all size fractions, even for high-ash coals like Valle (29% to below 7%) to acceptable levels for coke manufacturing or pulverized fuel combustion. The novel use of TMA and AFO to analyze coal swelling demonstrated that swelling varies under constrained and unconstrained conditions and the small sample size allows for rapid testing of coal swelling. This study has demonstrated that the use of common fertilizers can allow beneficiation to become a processing option for low-grade coals in Official Development Assistance countries where conventional dense media is prohibitively expensive.

This study presents a novel macro-scale non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis to evaluate the combustion reactivity of hydrochars derived from hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of sugarcane green harvesting residues (GHR). HTC was applied to enhance the fuel properties of GHR, a biomass with low mass and energy density and high alkaline and alkaline-earth metal content, assessing its viability as a partial replacement for bagasse and coal in industrial boilers. HTC was conducted in a batch reactor without agitation using a particle size of 0.25 mm. A central composite experimental design was employed to evaluate the effects of temperature (200-300 °C) and water/GHR mass ratio (5/1 to 10/1) on mass yield, higher heating value (HHV), and energy density. Reaction time was 30 min with a heating rate of 10 °C/min. Raw GHR and hydrochars were characterized following ASTM standards. The highest dry mass yield (84.5 %) was obtained at 200 °C and a 5/1 ratio, while the maximum HHV (29.2 MJ/kg daf) and energy density (1.71) were achieved at 300 °C and a 10/1 ratio. HTC increased fixed carbon and reduced volatile matter due to dehydration, hydrolysis, depolymerization, oxidation, and carbonization. Through macro-scale non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis, hydrochar at 200 °C and water/GHR ratio of 10/1 exhibited the highest combustion index (5.15 × 10^-1⁰ %²min^-2°C^-3) and mass yield (84.5 % db). Despite lower volatile matter, its activation energy (178.52 kJ/mol) remained comparable to raw GHR (116.25 kJ/mol), indicating no significant loss in reactivity. These findings highlight the potential of GHR-derived hydrochar as a sustainable alternative fuel for industrial applications.