Co-Solvent Assisted Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Algal Biomass and Biocrude Upgrading

Fuels

Umakanta Jena¹  K. C. Das²  Blessing E. Eboibi³ 

[1] College of Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88011, USA;College of Engineering, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA;Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Delta State University, Oleh Campus, Oleh P.M.B. 22, Delta State, Nigeria;

关键词: algae;    hydrothermal liquefaction;    biocrude;    co-solvent;    hydrodeoxygenation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/fuels3020020

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This study reports the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of microalgae Spirulina platenesis in the presence of alcohol or formic acid co-solvents. HTL runs are performed in a 1.8-L batch reactor at 300 °C using an alcohol (methanol and ethanol) or formic acid co-solvent. Consequently, hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of resultant algal biocrude is performed at 350 °C for 2 h under high hydrogen pressure (~725 psi) using the Ru/C catalyst. The HTL results are compared with the control HTL run performed in water only. The results of the study show that the addition of co-solvents leads to a 30–63% increased biocrude yield over the control HTL run. Formic acid results in a 59.0% yield of biocrude, the highest amongst all co-solvents tested. Resultant biocrudes from formic acid-assisted and ethanol-assisted HTL runs have 21.6% and 3.8–11.0% higher energy content, respectively, than that of the control run. However, that of the methanol-assisted HTL results in biocrude with 4.2–9.0% lower energy density. Viscosity of biocrude from methanol- or ethanol-assisted HTL is higher than the control HTL but formic acid-assisted HTL results in a less viscous biocrude product. In addition, the HDO study leads to a 40.6% yield of upgraded oil, which is characterized by a higher net energy content and lower O/C and N/C ratios when compared to the initial HTL biocrude.

【 授权许可】

Unknown