Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Algae Grown on Dairy Wastewaters
AIChE Annual Meeting
2017
2017 Annual Meeting
Student Poster Sessions
Undergraduate Student Poster Session: Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
Monday, October 30, 2017 - 10:00am to 12:30pm
Batch HTL conversion experiments were carried out using a 1.8 Liter autoclave reactor at reaction temperatures and retention times of 310°C and 350°C, and 30 and 60 minutes, respectively. Algae and reaction conditions were compared based on product yields and the higher heating values (HHV) of the bio-crude oils. For brackish water microalgae produced a yield of 10-24 wt. % oil, 19-38 wt. % char, and approximately 45MJ/kg for HHV. The yield for filamentous algae grown on freshwater effluent was 11-15 wt. % oil, 16-25 wt. % char, and approximately 30-44 MJ/kg. Both of these feedstocks presented high ash content, and presented a low moderate potential for energy recovery in liquid fuels. Future work will focus on bio-crude oil, and char characterization, as well as the evaluation of the dairy effluent waste water treatment and the renewable energy production combined process.