Hydrothermal liquefaction of Galdieria sulphuraria grown on municipal wastewater

Feng Cheng; Kwonit Mallick; Shanka M Henkanatte Gedara; Jacqueline M Jarvis; Tanner Schaub; Umakanta Jena; Nagamany Nirmalakhandan; Catherine E Brewer

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121884

Hydrothermal liquefaction of Galdieria sulphuraria grown on municipal wastewater

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Nov:292:121884. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121884. Epub 2019 Jul 25.

Authors

Feng Cheng¹, Kwonit Mallick¹, Shanka M Henkanatte Gedara², Jacqueline M Jarvis³, Tanner Schaub³, Umakanta Jena¹, Nagamany Nirmalakhandan², Catherine E Brewer⁴

Affiliations

¹ New Mexico State University, Chemical & Materials Engineering, PO Box 30001 MSC 3805, Las Cruces, NM 88003, United States.
² Civil Engineering, PO Box 30001 MSC 3CE, Las Cruces, NM 88003, United States.
³ Chemical & Analysis Instrumentation Laboratory, PO Box 30001 MSC 3BF, Las Cruces, NM 88003, United States.
⁴ New Mexico State University, Chemical & Materials Engineering, PO Box 30001 MSC 3805, Las Cruces, NM 88003, United States. Electronic address: cbrewer@nmsu.edu.

PMID: 31400652
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121884

Abstract

Two strains of Galdieria sulphuraria algae, 5587.1 and SOOS, were grown on municipal wastewater to develop energy-positive treatment systems. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of 5-10 wt% algal biomass solids was conducted at 310-350 °C for 5-60 min to produce bio-crude oil. HTL product yields and energy recovery were compared to those from previous studies using G. sulphuraria grown on a modified Cyanidium medium. Total bio-crude oil yields were lower (11.2-23.0 wt%) and char yields were higher (22.6-36.4 wt%) for HTL of algae grown on actual wastewater compared with that grown on media (31.4 wt% and 4.8 wt%, respectively), indicating a potential limitation for using yields from media-based studies. High-resolution mass spectroscopy of bio-crude oil provides new insights into differences in composition based on growth media. Energy recovery in total bio-crude oil and char at 350 °C was 17-28% and 14-19%, respectively, for the 5587.1 strain, and 23-27% and 14-25%, respectively, for the SOOS strain.

Keywords: Biofuels; Energy recovery; Hydrothermal liquefaction; Microalgae; Wastewater treatment.

MeSH terms

Biofuels
Biomass
Rhodophyta*
Temperature
Wastewater*
Water

Substances

Biofuels
Waste Water
Water