Co-Hydrothermal gasification of Chlorella vulgaris and hydrochar: The effects of waste-to-solid biofuel production and blending concentration on biogas generation

Greta Sztancs; Lilla Juhasz; Balazs Jozsef Nagy; Aron Nemeth; Asmaa Selim; Anita Andre; Andras Jozsef Toth; Peter Mizsey; Daniel Fozer

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122793

Co-Hydrothermal gasification of Chlorella vulgaris and hydrochar: The effects of waste-to-solid biofuel production and blending concentration on biogas generation

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Apr:302:122793. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122793. Epub 2020 Jan 16.

Authors

Greta Sztancs¹, Lilla Juhasz¹, Balazs Jozsef Nagy², Aron Nemeth², Asmaa Selim¹, Anita Andre¹, Andras Jozsef Toth¹, Peter Mizsey³, Daniel Fozer⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
² Department of Applied Biotechnology and Food Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
³ Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Fine Chemicals and Environmental Technology, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: fozerd@ch.bme.hu.

PMID: 32007846
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122793

Abstract

This study investigates enhanced biogas production via co-Hydrothermal gasification (co-HTG) of wet Chlorella vulgaris biomass and hydrochar (HC). Hydrothermal carbonization was applied to valorize struvite containing waste microalgae stream into solid bio-fuel with improved combustion properties. The effects of HC quality and mixing ratio are investigated on biogas yield, composition and carbon conversion ratio. The results show that the application of blending components promotes H₂, CH₄ formation and selectivity in hydrothermal gasification. The total co-HTG gas yield is increased from 19.13 to 46.95 mol kg^-1 at 650 °C and 300 bar by applying 5 wt% HC blending concentration and reduced level of volatile matter content (24.61 wt%). The obtained high hydrogen, methane yields and carbon conversion ratio (19.49, 2.98 mol kg^-1, 82.31%, respectively) indicate effective hydrothermal upgrading potentials in case of wet and waste biomass feedstocks.

Keywords: Biogas; Co-Hydrothermal gasification; Hydrochar; Hydrothermal carbonization; Microalgae.

MeSH terms

Biofuels*
Biomass
Carbon
Chlorella vulgaris*
Temperature

Substances

Biofuels
Carbon