title: Hydrothermal liquefaction of freshwater and marine algal biomass: A novel approach to produce distillate fuel fractions through blending and co-processing of biocrude with petrocrude.
abstract: Biocrude was produced from Tetraselmis sp. - a marine alga and Arthrospira platensis - a fresh water alga using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process. Considering the constraints in cultivating algae for replacing 100% petrocrude, this study evaluated the option of blending and co-processing algal biocrude with petrocrude. Biocrudes obtained from algal strains cultivated in fresh water and sea water were blended with petrocrude at 10% concentration and the characteristics were studied using FT-IR and CNS SIMDIST. True Boiling Point (TBP) distillation was carried out to assess yields and properties of distillates of blended biocrudes. Biocrudes obtained from both algae were light crudes and the blended crudes recorded distillate yields of 76-77 wt%. The yield of light naphtha fraction of biocrude blends was 29-30%; whereas the yield of diesel fraction was about 18%. This study proposes blending and co-processing of algal biocrude with petrocrude to produce drop-in biofuels.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Centre, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, Chennai 600068, India; Department of Biotechnology, A.C. Tech., Anna University, Chennai 600025, India. Electronic address: lavanya@cpcl.co.in.
authors.forename: Melcureraj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lavanya
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Centre, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, Chennai 600068, India.
authors.forename: Arunachalam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meenakshisundaram
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, A.C. Tech., Anna University, Chennai 600025, India.
authors.forename: Sahadevan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Renganathan
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Division, Aban Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., Chennai 600008, India.
authors.forename: Senthil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chinnasamy
authors.affiliation: Muradel Pty Ltd, Whyalla, South Australia 5600, Australia.
authors.forename: David Milton
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Division, Aban Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., Chennai 600008, India.
authors.forename: Jaganathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nallasivam
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Division, Aban Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., Chennai 600008, India.
authors.forename: Sailendra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhaskar
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000737:chemistry*; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis; D018533:Biomass; D005591:Chemical Fractionation / Q000379:methods*; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000737:chemistry*; D057168:Distillation; D005618:Fresh Water; D006868:Hydrolysis; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis; D012623:Seawater; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D010578:Petroleum
keywords: Algae; Biocrude; Co-processing; Hydrothermal liquefaction; True Boiling Point distillation