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Exploiting Algae As a Biomass Source to Produce Gasoline Grade Hydrocarbons by High Pressure Pyrolysis

Published: 10 March 2013
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Abstract

The use of microalgae as a feedstock to produce hydrocarbon fuels using high pressure catalytic pyrolysis was studied. In this study, freeze dried microalgae species Nannochloropsis oculata was studied as the biomass source for py-rolysis in a micro-reactor. Algae sample was characterized by thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) as well as FTIR analysis. To augment the hydrocarbon fraction, the effects of temperature and pressure were studied by varying the temperature from 500-800 oC in 100 oC increments and pressure 0-150 psi in 50 psi increments. When the sample was heated from 500-800 oC the volatiles were mainly hydrocarbons with small percentage of oxygenated and nitrogenated species. It was found that the gases evolved within 100-500oC were mostly oxygenated, nitrogenated and sulfided species.

Published in International Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (Volume 2, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13
Page(s) 41-45
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Algae; Pyrolysis; Biofuels; Nannochloropsis oculata; ZSM-5

References
[1] Lee, S.-J., et al., Oil Production from Five Marine Microalgae for the Production of Biodiesel. Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering, 2011. 16(3): p. 561-566.
[2] Babich, I.V., et al., Catalytic pyrolysis of microalgae to high-quality liquid bio-fuels. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2011. 35(7): p. 3199-3207.
[3] Demirbas, M.F., Biofuels from algae for sustainable development. Applied Energy, 2011. 88(10): p. 3473-3480.
[4] Dote, Y., et al., Recovery of liquid fuel from hydrocarbon-rich microalgae by thermochemical liquefaction. Fuel, 1994. 73(12): p. 1855-1857.
[5] Hossain, A.B.M.S. and A. Salleh, Biodiesel Fuel Production from Algae as Renewable Energy. American Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology 2008. 4(3): p. 250-254.
[6] Demirbas, A. and M.F. Demirbas, Algae Energy :Algae as a New Source of Biodiesel. 1 ed. Green Energy and Technology, ed. Springer. 2010: Springer.
[7] Chiu, S.-Y., et al., Lipid accumulation and CO2 utilization of Nannochloropsis oculata in response to CO2 aeration. Bioresource Technology, 2009. 100(2): p. 833-838.
[8] Yusuf, C., Biodiesel from microalgae beats bioethanol. Trends in Biotechnology, 2008. 26(3): p. 126-131.
[9] Umdu, E.S., M. Tuncer, and E. Seker, Transesterification of Nannochloropsis oculata microalga's lipid to biodiesel on Al2O3 supported CaO and MgO catalysts. Bioresource Technology, 2009. 100(11): p. 2828-2831.
[10] Pan, P., et al., The direct pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis of Nannochloropsis sp. residue for renewable bio-oils. Bioresource Technology, 2010. 101(12): p. 4593-4599.
[11] Duan, P. and P.E. Savage, Catalytic hydrotreatment of crude algal bio-oil in supercritical water. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 2011. 104: p. 136-143.
[12] Duan, P. and P.E. Savage, Catalytic treatment of crude algal bio-oil in supercritical water: optimization studies. Energy Environ. Sci., 2011. 4: p. 1447.
[13] Du, Z., et al., Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of microalgae for biofuel production. Bioresource Technology, 2011. 102(7): p. 4890-4896.
[14] Ma, X., et al., Low-temperature affected LC-PUFA conversion and associated gene transcript level in <i>Nannochloropsis oculata</i> CS-179. Journal of Ocean University of China (English Edition), 2011. 10(3): p. 270-274.
[15] Barsanti, L. and P. Gualtieri, Algae: Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Biotechnology. 2006: Taylor and Fransis.
[16] Corma, A., Transformation of hydrocarbons on zeolite catalysts. Catalysis Letters, 1993. 22(1): p. 33-52.
[17] Gunawardena, D.A. and S.D. Fernando, Deoxygenation of Methanol over ZSM-5 in a High-Pressure Catalytic Pyroprobe. Chemical Engineering & Technology, 2011. 34(2): p. 173-178.
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  • APA Style

    Duminda A. Gunawardena, Timothy J. Fernando, Sandun D. Fernando. (2013). Exploiting Algae As a Biomass Source to Produce Gasoline Grade Hydrocarbons by High Pressure Pyrolysis. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 2(2), 41-45. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13

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    ACS Style

    Duminda A. Gunawardena; Timothy J. Fernando; Sandun D. Fernando. Exploiting Algae As a Biomass Source to Produce Gasoline Grade Hydrocarbons by High Pressure Pyrolysis. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2013, 2(2), 41-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13

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    AMA Style

    Duminda A. Gunawardena, Timothy J. Fernando, Sandun D. Fernando. Exploiting Algae As a Biomass Source to Produce Gasoline Grade Hydrocarbons by High Pressure Pyrolysis. Int J Sustain Green Energy. 2013;2(2):41-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13,
      author = {Duminda A. Gunawardena and Timothy J. Fernando and Sandun D. Fernando},
      title = {Exploiting Algae As a Biomass Source to Produce Gasoline Grade Hydrocarbons by High Pressure Pyrolysis},
      journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {41-45},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijrse.20130202.13},
      abstract = {The use of microalgae as a feedstock to produce hydrocarbon fuels using high pressure catalytic pyrolysis was studied. In this study, freeze dried microalgae species Nannochloropsis oculata was studied as the biomass source for py-rolysis in a micro-reactor. Algae sample was characterized by thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) as well as FTIR analysis. To augment the hydrocarbon fraction, the effects of temperature and pressure were studied by varying the temperature from 500-800 oC in 100 oC increments and pressure 0-150 psi in 50 psi increments. When the sample was heated from 500-800 oC the volatiles were mainly hydrocarbons with small percentage of oxygenated and nitrogenated species. It was found that the gases evolved within 100-500oC were mostly oxygenated, nitrogenated and sulfided species.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    AU  - Duminda A. Gunawardena
    AU  - Timothy J. Fernando
    AU  - Sandun D. Fernando
    Y1  - 2013/03/10
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13
    T2  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JF  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JO  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    SP  - 41
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130202.13
    AB  - The use of microalgae as a feedstock to produce hydrocarbon fuels using high pressure catalytic pyrolysis was studied. In this study, freeze dried microalgae species Nannochloropsis oculata was studied as the biomass source for py-rolysis in a micro-reactor. Algae sample was characterized by thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) as well as FTIR analysis. To augment the hydrocarbon fraction, the effects of temperature and pressure were studied by varying the temperature from 500-800 oC in 100 oC increments and pressure 0-150 psi in 50 psi increments. When the sample was heated from 500-800 oC the volatiles were mainly hydrocarbons with small percentage of oxygenated and nitrogenated species. It was found that the gases evolved within 100-500oC were mostly oxygenated, nitrogenated and sulfided species.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

  • Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

  • Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

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