Microwave co-pyrolysis of Chlorella vulgaris and cow dung with composite additives: Characteristics, bio-oil analysis and reaction mechanism

Chunxiang Chen, Haimin Ning, Shuai Zhou, Shiyi Zhao, Ronglin Yang and Xingchen Zhao

Energy, 2025, vol. 334, issue C

Abstract: The catalytic co-pyrolysis of microalgae and waste materials for sustainable energy production has emerged as a promising strategy. This study investigated the catalytic effects of Al2O3/activated carbon (noted as AxCy) and ZSM-5/activated carbon (noted as ZxCy) composite additives with different addition amounts (5 %, 10 %, 15 % and 20 %) and mixing ratios (7:3, 5:5, and 3:7) on microwave co-pyrolysis of CV and CD. The catalytic co-pyrolysis characteristics, product yield, and bio-oil composition of CV and CD were further analyzed by microwave thermogravimetry and GC-MS. Results demonstrated that adding ZxCy improved the co-pyrolysis characteristics of CV and CD, with the shortest reaction time (Ts, 1701 s) and the highest average reaction rate (Rv, 0.03780 wt%/s) achieved at 20 % Z5C5. The maximum liquid yield (23.30 wt%) was obtained at 15 % Z5C5. Furthermore, both composite additives elevated the hydrocarbon content in bio-oil and effectively removed O-containing and N-containing compounds by facilitating the Diels-Alder reaction, deoxygenation, dehydration, decarboxylation and cyclization. Specifically, the maximum hydrocarbon content (49.65 %) and deoxygenation efficiency (54.96 %) were found at 20 % A7C3 while the maximum denitrogenation efficiency (30.25 %) was achieved at 15 % Z3C7. These findings offer new insights into the valorization of CD and high-quality bio-oil produced under composite additives.

Keywords: Chlorella vulgaris; Cow dung; Microwave co-pyrolysis; Composite additive; Bio-oil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225032827
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:energy:v:334:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225032827

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137640

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

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