A review of production and upgrading of algal bio-oil

Mohammad Saber, Bakhtiyor Nakhshiniev and Kunio Yoshikawa

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016, vol. 58, issue C, 918-930

Abstract: Depletion of the oil reservoirs necessitates developing renewable fuels to replace petroleum-based fuels. Biomass-derived fuels with zero net CO2 emission are promising substitutes for fossil fuels. Bio-oil has been considered as an alternative energy source for fuel applications. At the present time, there are two principal processes for bio-oil production from biomass: pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction. Pyrolysis requires drying of feedstock which increases the energy consumption of the process. On the other hand, hydrothermal liquefaction is conducted in aqueous environment which makes it suitable for aquatic plants and wet biomass. One of the main challenges in bio-oil application is the poor quality of the bio-oil. Bio-oil has undesirable properties such as high oxygen content and acidity which requires upgrading of the bio-oil for fuel application. This article reviews bio-oil production and upgrading techniques from algae (micro- and macro-algae). The chemistry and characteristics of bio-oil as well as recommendations for future works are also covered in this paper.

Keywords: Bio-oil; Biomass; Pyrolysis; Hydrothermal liquefaction; Upgrading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115017256
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:58:y:2016:i:c:p:918-930

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.342

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().