Thermochemical conversion of raw and defatted algal biomass via hydrothermal liquefaction and slow pyrolysis

► HTL and pyrolysis bio-oils display similar elemental composition and IR spectra. ► Bio-oil chemistry is influenced by biomass composition and conversion method. ► Pyrolysis bio-oils exhibit lower Mw and boiling points compared to HTL bio-oils. ► HTL is more energetically favorable than pyrolysis f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioresource technology 2012-04, Vol.109, p.178-187
Main Authors: Vardon, Derek R., Sharma, Brajendra K., Blazina, Grant V., Rajagopalan, Kishore, Strathmann, Timothy J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Biofuels - analysis
Biomass
Biotechnology - methods
Chromatography, Gel
Computer Simulation
Conversion
Direct power generation
Distillation
Elements
Hydrothermal liquefaction
Lipids - isolation & purification
Liquefaction
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Moisture content
Molecular Weight
Plant Oils - chemistry
Pyrolysis
Raw
Scenedesmus
Scenedesmus - chemistry
Shale oil
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Spirulina
Spirulina - chemistry
Temperature
Thermodynamics
Water - chemistry
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Summary:► HTL and pyrolysis bio-oils display similar elemental composition and IR spectra. ► Bio-oil chemistry is influenced by biomass composition and conversion method. ► Pyrolysis bio-oils exhibit lower Mw and boiling points compared to HTL bio-oils. ► HTL is more energetically favorable than pyrolysis for wet biomass (80% moisture). ► Low biomass moisture increases energetic favorability of thermochemical conversions. Thermochemical conversion is a promising route for recovering energy from algal biomass. Two thermochemical processes, hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL: 300°C and 10–12MPa) and slow pyrolysis (heated to 450°C at a rate of 50°C/min), were used to produce bio-oils from Scenedesmus (raw and defatted) and Spirulina biomass that were compared against Illinois shale oil. Although both thermochemical conversion routes produced energy dense bio-oil (35–37MJ/kg) that approached shale oil (41MJ/kg), bio-oil yields (24–45%) and physico-chemical characteristics were highly influenced by conversion route and feedstock selection. Sharp differences were observed in the mean bio-oil molecular weight (pyrolysis 280–360Da; HTL 700–1330Da) and the percentage of low boiling compounds (bp
ISSN:0960-8524
1873-2976
DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2012.01.008