Hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae for biocrude production: Improving the biocrude properties with vacuum distillation

Abstract

This paper proposes a two-part process for producing biocrude with reduced impurities. The biocrude was produced from hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of Spirulina sp. and Tetraselmis sp. in a batch reactor at both 300 and 350°C, 5min, and 16%w/w solid feed composition. The resultant biocrudes were vacuum distilled at a maximum temperature of 360°C. It was shown that biocrude quality could be enhanced without using catalyst by vacuum distillation (VD). The biocrude yield for Spirulina sp. was 36wt% at 300°C, 42wt% at 350°C, and for Tetraselmis sp. was 34wt% at 300°C, and 58wt% at 350°C. VD of Spirulina sp. biocrude obtained at 300 and 350°C led to 62 and 67wt% distilled biocrudes yield, respectively. VD of Tetraselmis sp. biocrude obtained at 300°C was 70wt%, and 73wt% at 350°C. The higher heating values (HHV) increased from 32MJ/kg to 40MJ/kg. There were substantial reductions in oxygen, metallic content, and boiling point ranges in distilled biocrudes.

Keywords: Biocrude; Distilled biocrude; Hydrothermal liquefaction; Microalgae.