Exploiting algae as a biomass source to produce gasoline grade hydrocarbons by high pressure pyrolysis

摘要

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 pyrolysis 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 ℃ in 100 ℃ increments and pressure 0-150 psi in 50 psi increments. When the sample was heated from 500-800℃ the volatiles were mainly hydrocarbons with small percentage of oxygenated and nitrogenated species. It was found that the gases evolved within 100-500℃ were mostly oxygenated, nitrogenated and sulfided species.