Acrylonitrile (AN)-acrylamide (AM) copolymers were prepared by nitric acidic hydrolysis of homopolyacrylonitrile. The acrylamino group increased as a function of hydrolysis time, while crystallinity decreased. Differential scanning calorimetry and a thermal gravimetric analysis indicated that the acylamino introduced by acidic hydrolysis effectively enhanced the cyclization reaction at low temperature due to the change of the cyclization reaction mechanism. Char-yield of AN-AM copolymers also gradually increased with increasing hydrolysis time. The maximum char-yield was 49.48% when hydrolized at 23°C in 65% nitric acid solution for 18 h, which was 30% higher than that of non-acidic hydrolysis of homopolyacrylonitrile. Simulation of the practical process also showed an increase of char yields, where the char yields were 55.43% and 62.60% for homopolyacrylonitrile and copolyacrylonitrile, respectively, with a hydrolysis time of 13 h.

Korea has adopted a federal renewable electricity standard that begins at 2% in 2012 and requires companies to source 10% of their electricity from renewables by 2022. Therefore the interest in the use of biomass as a renewable energy resource is growing. By importing biomass, the Korea, which produces too little biomass of its own, can meet the needs of the renewable energy sectors. In the case of import biomass, it will cost a great deal on the transportation and logistics of biomass materials. Therefore new research and development on the biomass fuel with high energy density is needed to reduce logistics cost on transportation of the biomass fuel. Torrefaction is a thermochemical treatment process of biomass at temperatures ranging between 200 and 300oC. Typically, 70% of the mass is retained as a char product, containing 90% of the initial energy content. Torrefaction experiments on samples of EFB were performed in a fixed bed reactor to determine the effect of operation variables such as reaction temperature (205-310oC), reaction time (20-40 min) and air ratio (0-0.18) on char yield and characteristics. Increase of the torrefaction temperature led to a decrease of the yield of the char. The heating value of char increased with the increase of the reaction temperature, because the carbon content increased and hydrogen and oxygen content decreased. The yield of char decreased with increasing air ratio. This suggested that oxidation of EFB occurred during torrefaction in the presence of oxygen.