Product Distribution and Characteristics of Pyrolyzing Microalgae ( Nannochloropsis oculata ), Cotton Gin Trash, and Cattle Manure as a Cobiomass

Muhammad U. Hanif, Mohammed Zwawi, Sergio C. Capareda, Hamid Iqbal, Mohammed Algarni, Bassem F. Felemban, Ali Bahadar and Adeel Waqas
Additional contact information
Muhammad U. Hanif: Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Sector H-12, Islamabad 45710, Pakistan
Mohammed Zwawi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh 21911, Saudi Arabia
Sergio C. Capareda: Bio-Energy Testing and Analysis Laboratory (BETA Lab), Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Hamid Iqbal: Rawalpindi Waste Management Company, A-81, Iran Road, Satellite Town 46300, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Mohammed Algarni: Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh 21911, Saudi Arabia
Bassem F. Felemban: Mechanical Engineering Department, Taif University, Taif 26571, Saudi Arabia
Ali Bahadar: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh 21911, Saudi Arabia
Adeel Waqas: Center for Advanced Studies in Energy, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 45710, Pakistan

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: Microalgae has proven potential for producing products that are accepted as an alternate energy source. An attempt is made to further improve the efficiency of pyrolysis in terms of product yields and characteristics by adding cotton gin trash and cattle manure as a mixed feedstock (cobiomass). A statistically significant number of treatments were made by mixing different amounts of cotton gin trash and cattle manure with microalgae ( Nannochloropsis oculata ). These treatments were pyrolyzed at different temperatures (400 to 600 °C ) and product yields and characteristics were analyzed. The pyrolysis of cobiomass resulted in higher yield for bio-oil and char as compared to microalgae alone. An operating temperature of 500 °C was found to be the best suitable for high bio-oil yield. The high heating values (hhv) of bio-oil were observed to be maximum at 500 °C and for syngas and char, the heating value slightly increased with further increase in temperature. Comparatively, the bio-oil (30 MJ/kg) had higher heating values than char (17 MJ/kg) and syngas (13 MJ/kg). The combustible material decreased whereas fixed carbon and ash content increased in char with an increase in temperature. The bio-oil produced from cobiomass had abundant aliphatics and aromatics with low nitrogen content making it a better alternative fuel than bio-oil produced by microalgae alone. The mixing of different biomass helped improving not just the quantity but also the quality of products.

Keywords: microalgae; cotton gin trash; pyrolysis; hydrocarbon; alternate energy; bio-oil; cobiomass (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/4/796/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/4/796/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:4:p:796-:d:319549

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().