Catalytic pyrolysis of green algae for hydrocarbon production using H+ZSM-5 catalyst.
Microalgae are considered as an intriguing candidate for biofuel production due to their high biomass yield. Studies on bio-oil production through fast pyrolysis and upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels using algal biomass are limited as compared to other terrestrial biomass. Therefore, in this study, a fresh water green alga, Chlorella vulgaris, was taken for pyrolysis study. The average activation energy for pyrolysis zone was found to be 109.1 kJ/mol. Fixed-bed pyrolysis of algae gave a bio-oil yield of 52.7 wt.%, which accounts for 60.7 wt.% carbon yield. In addition, analytical pyrolysis of C. vulgaris was carried out in a Py/GC-MS to identify major compounds present in bio-oil with and without catalyst (H(+)ZSM-5). The study found that in catalytic-pyrolysis, as the catalyst loading increased from zero to nine times of the biomass, the carbon yield of aromatic hydrocarbons increased from 0.9 to 25.8 wt.%.
Department of Biosystems Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
Suchithra
S
Thangalazhy-Gopakumar
Sushil
S
Adhikari
Shyamsundar Ayalur
SA
Chattanathan
Ram B
RB
Gupta
D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002384:Catalysis; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000378:metabolism*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009821:Oils / Q000032:analysis; D013696:Temperature; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D017641:Zeolites / Q000378:metabolism*
D006838:Hydrocarbons; D009821:Oils; C570564:ZSM-5 zeolite; D017641:Zeolites