Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of time on yield and properties of biocrude during downstream processing of product mixture derived from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalga

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper is a study on effects of separation procedures on yield and characteristics of biocrude derived from hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of Tetraselmis sp. microalgae. The algae was grown and cultivated in outdoor open raceway ponds. The HTL experiments were performed using 1 l custom built high pressure–temperature reactor with inbuilt magnetic stirrer. HTL experimental studies were conducted at reaction temperature of 350 °C and 15 min holding time using alga solids loading of 16 w/v%. HTL product mixture diluted with dichloromethane (ratio 1:1) was allowed to stand for 1 h, 3 h, 6 h, 7 h, 8 h, 9 h, 10 h, 11 h, 12 h and 15 h at room temperature. The result showed that varying stand times for product mixture separation influenced yields in biocrude, solid residue and dissolved aqueous solids. Biocrude yields were in the range of 30 wt% to 56 wt% characterised with higher heating value of ~ 35 to 37 MJ/kg and hydrogen to carbon atomic ratios of 1.56 to 1.95. Maximum yield of biocrude was obtained after 9 h stand time for product mixture and dichloromethane (PM–DCM) mixture. Although, varying PM–DCM mixture stand times showed variation in product yields, there was no clear trend in distribution of elemental contents. Majority of alkali metals distributed in aqueous phase and solid residue, which could be used as nutrients, an alternative to conventional fertiliser.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Zhang Y, Xiong Q, Chen Y, Pei ML, Jin P, Yan Y, Pan J (2018) Synthesis of ceria and sulfated zirconia catalysts supported on mesoporous SBA-15 toward glucose conversion to HMF in a green isopropanol-medicated system. Ind Eng Chem Res 57:1968–1979. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.7b04671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Eboibi BE, Lewis DM, Ashman PJ, Chinnasamy S (2015) Integrating anaerobic digestion and hydrothermal liquefaction for renewable energy production: an experimental investigation. Environ Prog Sustain Energy 34:1662–1673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hu H-S, Wu Y-L, Yang M-D (2018) Fractionation of bio-oil produced from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae by liquid-liquid extraction. Biomass Bioenergy 108:487–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Jiang J, Savage PE (2017) Metals and other elements in biocrude from fast and isothermal hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae. Energy Fuel 32:4118–4126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bi Z, Zhang J, Zhu Z, Liang Y, Wiltowski T (2018) Generating biocrude from partially defatted Cryptococcus curvatus yeast residues through catalytic hydrothermal. Appl Energy 209:435–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Tian C, Liu Z, Zhang Y (2017) Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL): a promising pathway for biorefinery of algae in Gupta et al., “Algal biofuels”. Springer, Switzerland, pp 361–391

    Google Scholar 

  7. Toor SS, Rosendahl L, Rudolf A (2011) Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass: a review of subcritical water technologies. Energy 36:2318–2342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Giaconia A, Caputo G, Ienna A, Mazzei D, Schiavo B, Scialdone O, Galia A (2017) Biorefinery process for hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae powered by a concentrating solar plant: a conceptual study. Appl Energy 208:1139–1149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Vlaskin MS, Grigorenko AV, Kostyukevich YI, Nikolaev EN, Vladimirov GN, Chernova NI, Kiseleva SV, Popel OS, Zhuk AZ (2018) Influence of solvent on the yield and chemical composition of liquid products of hydrothermal liquefaction of Arthrospira platensis as revealed by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Eur J Mass Spectrom 24:363–374. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469066718771209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Barreiro DL, Prins W, Ronsse F, Brilman W (2013) Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of microalgae for biofuel production: state of the art review and future prospects. Biomass Bioenergy 53:113–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Eboibi BE, Lewis DM, Ashman PJ, Chinnasamy S (2014) Hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae for biocrude production: improving the biocrude properties with vacuum distillation. Bioresour Technol 174:212–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Boëns B, Pilon G, Bourdeau N, Adjallé K, Barnabé S (2016) Hydrothermal liquefaction of a wastewater native Chlorella sp. bacteria consortium: biocrude production and characterization. Biofuels 7:611–619. https://doi.org/10.1080/17597269.2016.1168027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Biller P, Ross AB (2011) Potential yields and properties of oil from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae with different biochemical content. Bioresour Technol 102:215–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Alba GL, Torri C, Samorì C, van der Spek J, Fabbri D, Kersten SRA, Brilman DWF (2011) Hydrothermal treatment (HTT) of microalgae: evaluation of the process as conversion method in an algae biorefinery concept. Energy Fuel 26:642–657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Sheng L, Wang X, Yang X (2018) Prediction model of biocrude yield and nitrogen heterocyclic compounds analysis by hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae with model compounds. Bioresour Technol 247:14–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Eboibi BE (2018) Effects of separation methods on yield and quality of biocrude after thermochemical liquefaction of a marine microalgae. NIJOTECH 37(3):679–691

    Google Scholar 

  17. Barreiro DL, Riede S, Hornung U, Kruse A, Prins W (2015) Hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae: effect of the product yields of the addition of an organic solvent to separate the aqueous phase and the biocrude. Algal Res 12:206–212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Xu D, Savage PE (2014) Characterization of biocrudes recovered with and without solvent after hydrothermal liquefaction of algae. Algal Res 6:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Elliott DC, Hart TR, Schmidt AJ, Neuenschwander GG, Rotness LJ, Olarte MV, Zacher AH, Albrecht KO, Hallen RT, Hollada JE (2013) Process development for hydrothermal liquefaction of algae feedstocks in a continuous-flow reactor. Algal Res 2:445–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Shakya R, Adhikaria S, Mahadevan R, Shanmugam SR, Nam H, Hassan EB, Dempster TA (2017) Influence of biochemical composition during hydrothermal liquefaction of algae on product yields and fuel properties. Bioresour Technol 243:1112–1120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Xu D, Savage PE (2018) Supercritical water upgrading of water-insoluble and water-soluble biocrudes from hydrothermal liquefaction of Nannochloropsis microalga. J Supercrit Fluids 133:683–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Smallwood I, (2012) Handbook of organic solvent properties. Arnold, London, NW1 3BH

  23. Yang J, He Q, Corscadden K, Niu H (2018) The impact of downstream processing methods on the yield and physiochemical properties of hydrothermal liquefaction bio-oil. Fuel Process Technol 178:353–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Eboibi BE, Lewis DM, Ashman PJ, Chinnasamy S (2015) Influence of process conditions on pretreatment of microalgae for protein extraction and production of biocrude during hydrothermal liquefaction of pretreated Tetraselmis sp. RSC Adv 5:20193–20207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Wang W, Zhang S, Yu Q, Lin Y, Yang N, Han W, Zhang J (2017) Hydrothermal liquefaction of high protein microalgae via clay material catalysts. RSC Adv 7:50794–50801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Huang Y, Chena Y, Xie J, Liu H, Yin X, Wu C (2016) Bio-oil production from hydrothermal liquefaction of high-protein high-ash microalgae including wild Cyanobacteria sp. and cultivated Bacillariophyta sp. Fuel 183:9–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Jindal MK, Jha MK (2016) Effect of process parameters on hydrothermal liquefaction of waste furniture sawdust for bio-oil production. RSC Adv 6:41772–41780

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Yang W, Li X, Zhang D, Feng L (2017) Catalytic upgrading of bio-oil in hydrothermal liquefaction of algae major model components over liquid acids. Energy Convers Manage 154:336–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Eboibi BE, Lewis DM, Ashman PJ, Chinnasamy S (2014) Effect of operating conditions on yield and quality of biocrude during hydrothermal liquefaction of halophytic Tetraselmis sp. alga. Bioresour Technol 174:20–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Fon Sing S, Isdepsky M, Borowitzka A, Lewis DM (2014) Pilot scale continuous recycling of growth medium for the mass culture of a halotolerant Tetraselmis sp. in raceway ponds under increasing salinity: a novel protocol for commercial microalgal biomass production. Bioresour Technol 161:47–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Channiwala SA, Parikh PP (2012) A unified correlation for estimating HHV of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels. Fuel 81:1051–1063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Posmanik R, Labatut RA, Kim AH, Usack JG, Tester JW, Angenent LT (2017) Coupling hydrothermal liquefaction and anaerobic digestion for energy valorization from model biomass feedstocks. Bioresour Technol 233:134–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Hu Y, Wang S, Li J, Wang Q, He Z, Feng Y, Abomohra AF, Afonaa-Mensah S, Hui C (2018) Co-pyrolysis and co-hydrothermal liquefaction of seaweeds and rice husk: comparative study towards enhanced biofuel production. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 129:162–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Speight G (1999) The chemistry and technology of petroleum, third edn. Marcel Dekker Inc, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang W, Xua Y, Wanga X, Zhang B, Tiana W, Zhang J (2018) Hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae over transition metal supported TiO2 catalyst. Bioresour Technol 250:474–480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Cheng F, Cui Z, Mallick K, Nirmalakhandan N, Brewera CE (2018) Hydrothermal liquefaction of high- and low-lipid algae: mass and energy balances. Bioresour Technol 258:158–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Anastasakis K, Ross AB (2011) Hydrothermal liquefaction of the brown macro-alga Laminaria saccharina: effect of reaction conditions on product distribution and composition. Bioresour Technol 102:4876–4883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Alba GL, Torri C, Fabbri D, Kerstena SRA, Brilman DWF (2013) Microalga growth on the aqueous phase hydrothermal liquefaction of the same microalgae. Chem Eng J 228:214–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The technical assistance of the Biotechnology Division of Aban Infrastructure Pvt. Limited, Chennai, India is acknowledged. In addition, the author is grateful for the guidance and support of Prof. David Lewis and Prof. Peter Ashman, both of School of Chemical Engineering, the University of Adelaide, Australia, and Dr. Senthil Chinnasamy of Aban Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India.

Funding

This work received support from the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects Funding Scheme (Project LP100200616), industry partner SQC Pty Ltd. and the Australian Biofuels Investment Readiness program funding agreement no. Q00150, as well as financial support in the form of the Postgraduate Research Award provided by Education Trust Fund of the Federal Republic of Nigeria via Delta State University, Nigeria.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Delta State University, Oleh Campus, Oleh, Nigeria

    B. E. Eboibi

Authors
  1. B. E. Eboibi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. E. Eboibi.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Eboibi, B.E. Impact of time on yield and properties of biocrude during downstream processing of product mixture derived from hydrothermal liquefaction of microalga. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 9, 379–387 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-019-00371-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-019-00371-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation