Preparation of bio-oil from Scenedesmus acutus using thermochemical liquefaction in a 1 L reactor
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3051/2021/v32i2a8903Keywords:
microalgae, atmosphere, reaction temperature, yields, C-16 fatty acidAbstract
Biomass from microalgae is a potential feedstock for biofuels production. It poses no threat to food security as it does not compete with agricultural crops for arable land. Scenedesmus acutus was used as feedstock to produce bio-oil in a large liquefaction reactor. The influence of reaction temperature (280–360ºC), reaction atmosphere (N2 or CO2) and solvent on bio-oil yield, C-16 fatty acid yield and oil properties were investigated. Oils were characterised using gas chromatography, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and ultimate analysis. Higher bio-oil yields were obtained in a CO2 atmosphere (250 g.kg-1 dry microalgae) than in a N2 atmosphere (210 g.kg-1 dry microalgae) whilst higher C16 fatty acid concentrations (600 g.kg-1 bio-oil) were recorded in N2 atmosphere compared to oil prepared in a CO2 atmosphere (500 g.kg-1 bio-oil). The oil yield increased to a maximum at 320°C, after which there were no significant changes. Highest bio-oil yields (425 g.kg-1 dry microalgae) were obtained in ethanol as solvent. FTIR spectroscopy and ultimate analysis showed that proteins present in the feedstock were degraded by breakage of peptide linkages, and nitrogen present in the oils is peptide fragments from protein degradation. The carbon content of all produced oils was high, but the hydrogen content was low, leading to low hydrogen/carbon ratios. Energy consumption and energy efficiency calculations showed that liquefaction in both reaction atmospheres results in a net energy gain, and a CO2 atmosphere is best for high energy efficiency.
Downloads
References
Akhtar, J., Amin, N.A.S. 2011. A review on process conditions for optimum bio-oil yield in hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15:1615-1624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.11.054
Anastasakis, K., Ross, A.B. 2011. Hydrothermal liquefaction of the brown macro-microalgae Laminaria Saccharina: Effect of reaction conditions on product distribution and composition. Bioresource Technology, 102:4876-4883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.01.031
Baloch, H.A., Nizamuddin, S., Siddiqui, M.T.H., Mubarak., Dumbre, D.K., Srinivasan, M.P., Griffin, G.J. 2018. Sub-supercritical liquefaction of sugarcane bagasse for production of bio-oil and char: Effect of two solvents. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 6 (5). 6589-6601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2018.10.017
Barreiro, D.L., Samori, C., Terranella, G., Hornung, U., Kruse, A., Prins, W. 2014. Assessing microalgae biorefinery routes for the production of biofuels via hydrothermal liquefaction. Bioresource Technology, 174:256-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.10.031
Barreiro, O.L., Prins, W., Ronsse, F., Brilman, W. 2013. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of microalgae for biofuel production: State of the art review and future prospects. Biomass and Bioenergy, 53:113-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2012.12.029
Biller, P., Ross, A.B. 2011. Potential yields and properties of oil from the hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae with different biochemical content. Bioresource Technology, 102:215-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.06.028
Brown, T.M., Duan, P., Savage P.E. 2010. Hydrothermal liquefaction and gasification of Nannochloropsis sp. Energy and Fuels, 24:3639-3646. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef100203u
Channiwala, S.A, Parikh, P.P. 2002. A unified correlation for the estimation HHV of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Fuel, 81(2):1051-1063. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0961-9534(96)00045-1
Chen, P., Min, M., Chen, Y., Wang, L., Li, Y., Chen, Q. 2009. Review of the Biological and engineering aspects of algae to fuels approach. International Journal of Agriculture and Biological Engineering. 2 (4). 1-30. https://doi.org/10.3965/j.issn.1934-6344.2009.04.001-030
Das, D.D., Schnitzer, M.I., Monreal, C.M., Mayer, P., 2009. Chemical composition of acid-base fractions separated from bio-oil derived by fast-pyrolysis of chicken manure. Bioresource Technology, 100, 6524-6532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2009.06.104
Dote, Y., Inoue, S., Ogi, T., Yokoyama, S., 1996. Studies on the direct liquefaction of protein-contained biomass: The distribution of nitrogen in the products. Biomass and Bioenergy, 11(6), 491 – 498. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0961-9534(96)00045-1
Duan, P., Jin, B, Xu, Y., Yang, Y., Bai, X., Wang, F., Zhang, L., Miao, J. 2013. Thermo-chemical conversion of Chlorella Pyrenoidosa to liquid fuels. Bioresource Technology, 133:197-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.01.069
Duan, P., Savage, P.E. 2011. Hydrothermal liquefaction of a microalga with heterogeneous catalysts. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 50:52-61. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie100758s
Galadima, A., Muraza, O. 2018. Hydrothermal liquefaction of algae and bio-oil upgrading into liquid fuels: Role of heterogeneous catalysts. Renewable and Sustainable Reviews. 81. 1037-1048. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.07.034
Giordano, M., Jansiz, M., Heraud, P., Beardall, J., Wood, B., McNaughton, D. 2001. Fourier transform infrared spec-troscopy as a novel tool to investigate changes in the intracellular macromolecular pools in the marine microalga Chaetoceros muellerii (Bacillanophyceae). Journal of Phycology, 37:271-279. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1529-8817.2001.037002271.x
Gómez-Jacinto, V., Arias-Borrego, A., Garcia-Barrera, T., Garbayo, I., Vilchez, C., Gómez-Ariza, L. 2010. Iodine specia-tion in iodine enriched microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 82(2):473-481. https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-09-08-01
Gushina, I.A., Harwood, J.L. 2006. Lipids and lipid metabolism in eukaryotic microalgae. Progress in Lipid Research, 45:160-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plipres.2006.01.001
Huang, H., Yuan, X., Zeng, G., Wang, J., Li, H., Zhou, C., Pei, X., You, Q., Chen, L. 2011. Thermochemical liquefaction characteristics of microalgae in sub- and supercritical ethanol. Fuel Processing Technology, 92:147-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2010.09.018
Jena, U., Das, K.C., Kastner, J.R. 2011. Effect of operating conditions of thermochemical liquefaction on biocrude production from Spirulina platensis. Bioresource Technology, 102:6221-6229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.02.057
Jin, B., Duan, P., Xu, Y., Wang, F., Fan, Y. 2013. Co-liquefaction of micro- and macroalgae in subcritical water. Biore-source Technology, 149:103-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.09.045
Kruse, A., Dinjus, E. 2007. Hot compressed water as reaction medium and reactant – Properties and synthesis reac-tions. Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 39:362-380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2006.03.016
Kruse, A., Funke, A, Tritirici, M-M. 2013. Hydrothermal conversion of biomass to fuels and energetic materials. Cur-rent Opinions in Chemical Biology, 17:515-521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.05.004
Lam, M.K., Lee, K.T., 2012. Microalgae biofuels: a critical review of issues, problems and the way forward. Biotech-nology Advances. 30 (3). 673-690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2011.11.008
Li, D., Chen, L., Xu, D., Zhang, X., Ye, N., Chen, F., Chen S. 2012. Preparation and characteristics of bio-oil from ma-rine brown alga Sargassum patens C. Agardh. Bioresource Technology, 104:737-742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.11.011
Marx, S., Piyo, N. 2014. Influence of reaction temperature and solvent on biochar yield and characteristics. Biore-source Technology, 164:177-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.04.067
Minowa, T., Yokoyama, S-Y., Kishimoto, M., Okakura, T. 1995. Oil production from algal cells of Dunaliella tertiolecta by direct thermochemical liquefaction. Fuel, 74:1735-1738. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-2361(95)80001-X
Parshetti, G.K., Hoekman, S.K., Balasubramanian, R., 2013. Chemical, structural and combustion characteristics of carbonaceous products obtained by hydrothermal carbonization of palm empty fruit bunches. Bioresource Tech-nology. 135, 683-689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.09.042
Patil, V., Tran, K.Q., Giselrød, H.R. 2008. Towards sustainable production of biofuels from microalgae. International Journal of Molecular Science, 9:118-1195. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms9071188
Saber, M., Golzary, A., Hosseinpour, M., Takahashi, F., Yoshikawa. 2016. Catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of mi-croalgae using nanocatalyst. Applied Energy. 183 (1). 566-576. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.09.017
Sawayama, S., Inoue, S., Dote, Y. & Yokoyama, S., 1995. CO2 fixation and oil production through microalga. Energy. Conservation and Management, 36(6-9), 729 – 731. https://doi.org/10.1016/0196-8904(95)00108-P
Shuping, Z., Yulong, W., Mingde, Y., Kaleem, I., Chun, L., Tong, J. 2010. Production and Characterisation of bio-oil from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae Dunaliella tertiolecta cake. Energy, 35:5406-5411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.07.013
Singh, R., Bhaskar, T., Balagurumurthy, B. 2015. Effect of solvent on the hydrothermal liquefaction of macro algae Ulva fasciata. Process Safety and Environmental Protection. 93. 154-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2014.03.002
Toor, S.S., Rosendahl, L., Rudolf, A. 2011. Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass: a review of subcritical water tech-nologies. Energy, 36:2328-2342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2011.03.013 Vieler, A., Wilhelm, C., Goss, R., Süß, R., Schiller, J. 2007. The lipid composition of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the dia-tom Cyclotella meneghiniana investigated by MALDI-TOF MS and TLC. Chemistry and Physics of Lipids, 150:143-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2007.06.224
Vlaskin, M.S., Grigorenko, A.V., Chernova, N. I., Kiseleva, S. V. 2018. Hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae after different pre-treatments. Energy Exploration & Exploitation. 36 (6). 1546-1555. https://doi.org/10.1177/0144598718777107
Xu, C., Lancaster, J. 2008. Conversion of secondary pulp/paper sludge powder to liquid oil products for energy re-covery by direct liquefaction in hot-compressed water: Water Research. 42 (6-7). 1571 – 1582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2007.11.007
Xu, D., Savage, P.E. 2014. Characterization of biocrudes recovered with and without solvent after hydrothermal liq-uefaction of algae. Algae Research. 6. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2014.08.007
Yang, M., Her, N., Ryu, J., Yoon, Y. 2014. Determination of perchlorate and iodide concentrations in edible seaweed. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 11:565-570. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-013-0263-7
Yuan, X., Wang, J., Zeng, G., Huang, H., Pei, X., Li, H., Liu, Z., Cong, M. 2011. Comparative studies of thermochemical liquefaction characteristics of microalgae using different organic solvents. Energy, 36 :6406-6412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2011.09.031
Zepke, H.D., Heinz, E., Radunz, A., Linscheid, M., Pesch, R. 1978. Combination and positional distribution of fatty acids in lipids from blue-green microalgae. Archives of Microbiology, 119:157-162. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00964267
Zhou, D., Zhang, L., Zhang, S., Fu, H., Chen, J. 2010. Hydrothermal liquefaction of macroalgae Enteromorpha prolif-era to bio-oil. Energy and Fuels, 24:4054-4061. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef100151h
Zou, S., Wu, Y., Yang, M., Li, C., Tong, J. 2009. Thermochemical catalytic liquefaction of the marine microalgae Dunal-iella tertiolecta and characterisation of bio-oils. Energy and Fuels, 23:3753-3758. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef9000105
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 H. Baloyi, S. Marx
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
.png){kind=spacer}