(619ak) Pyrolytic Fractionation of Algal Biomass: Catalytic Conversion of the Resulting Vapors to Fuels and Chemicals

Our group recently developed a novel pyrolytic fractionation method for converting oleaginous biomass (microalgae and/ or oil seeds) to fuels and products. We have observed that the biopolymer components (protein, starch and lipids) volatilize over narrow and distinct temperature regions. This allows recovery of oil and gas separately from each fraction. Through pyrolytic fractionation, volatile N-containing compounds and carbohydrate products can be removed from the biomass by first heating to ~320 °C and holding temperature steady until most protein and starch are thermally degraded or stabilized via polymerization to char. The biomass remaining after thermal removal of protein and starch (first pyrolysis fraction) can be further processed (at temperatures > 450^oC) to recover low-N bio-oil from lipids, again as a separate fraction. We are investigating the production of higher value aromatics and nitriles from each of these fractions (320 °C and 450^oC) by upgrading the generated vapors using an H-ZSM-5 catalyst bed. Our recent findings on this project will be presented and discussed