Microalgae as a renewable fuel source: Fast pyrolysis of Scenedesmus sp

Anne E. Harman-Ware, Tonya Morgan, Michael Wilson, Mark Crocker, Jun Zhang, Kunlei Liu, Jozsef Stork and Seth Debolt

Renewable Energy, 2013, vol. 60, issue C, 625-632

Abstract: Herein we report the fast pyrolysis of dried, ground Scenedesmus sp. at two different reactor scales. Pyrolysis was performed at 480 °C and 1 bar in both an isothermal spouted bed reactor and a dynamic pyrolysis-GC/MS unit, each with 2 s vapor residence times. Bio-oil products were characterized on the basis of GC-MS, simulated distillation GC, elemental analysis, calorific content and total acid number. The ratio of crude oil: char obtained from the spouted bed reactor was 3.76 by weight, the average calorific content of the oil being 18.4 MJ/kg. The average total acid number (68 mg KOH/g) was lower than typical bio-oil produced via wood pyrolysis. Simulated distillation results indicated that a significant proportion of the oil corresponded to the boiling range typical for heavy gas oil (343 °C–524 °C). Elemental analysis showed the oil contained an average of 27.6 wt.% oxygen and 8.6 wt.% nitrogen, the relatively high nitrogen content being a consequence of the high protein content of the algae. According to GC-MS data, the oil consisted of various hydrocarbons as well as oxygenated and nitrogenous species, including indoles, fatty acids and amides. Pyrolysis-GC-MS was also performed on Scenedesmus sp. in order to provide insights into the nature of the primary pyrolysis products.

Keywords: Algae; Fast pyrolysis; Bio-oil; Pyrolysis-GC/MS; Scenedesmus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:60:y:2013:i:c:p:625-632

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.06.016

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