title: Hydrothermal liquefaction of Nannochloropsis oceanica in different solvents.
abstract: Although the hydrothermal liquefaction is considered a promising technology for converting microalgae into liquid biofuels, there are still some disadvantages. This paper demonstrated that the bio-oil yield can be significantly improved by adding alcohols as co-solvents and carrying out the conversion at mild conditions (<250°C), but at the expense of a reduced bio-oil quality. By adding ethanol, the bio-oil yields obtained (up to ∼60%) were comparable to the yield obtained at severe operating conditions using only water as solvent (54±2% on average), but the quality of the bio-oil was lower. However, the main advantages of the process here described lie in the utilisation of wet microalgae (∼75% moisture) and alcohol concentrations which avoid both drying the microalgae and decreasing the amount of microalgae loaded in the reactor.
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Caporgno
authors.affiliation: GEPEA, Université de Nantes, CNRS, UMR 6144, bd de l'Université, CRTT - BP 406, 44602 Saint-Nazaire Cedex, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pruvost
authors.affiliation: GEPEA, Université de Nantes, CNRS, UMR 6144, bd de l'Université, CRTT - BP 406, 44602 Saint-Nazaire Cedex, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Legrand
authors.affiliation: AlgoSource SAS, 37 bd de l'Université, CRTT - BP 406, 44602 Saint-Nazaire Cedex, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lepine
authors.affiliation: GEPEA, Département Systèmes Energétiques et Environnement, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, UMR 6144, La Chantrerie, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, BP 20722, F-44307 Nantes Cedex 3, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tazerout
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain. Electronic address: christophe.bengoa@urv.cat.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bengoa
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000378:metabolism*; D012997:Solvents / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Bio-oil; Co-solvents; Hydrothermal liquefaction; Microalgae