Bio-oil production from microalgae by fast pyrolysis: study of the effects of biomass properties on product quality by using whole and spent-microalgal biomass as feedstock

Abstract

A novel use for spent microalgal (SM) biomass following a biorefinery concept was study. The SM is produced after lipids o protein extraction to produce high value products. The thermal conversion of SM by using fast pyrolysis has been proposed as an interesting alternative. The advantage of pyrolysis is that whole microalgal (WM) biomass can be converted into three products: bio-oil, non-condensable gases (NCG) and bio-char. Therefore, the objective of this work was to study the production of bio-oil by fast pyrolysis from SM following a biorefinery concept. The present study, it demonstrated that the proteins extraction before the pyrolysis process is feasible, obtaining protein products with potential economic value and additionally to reduce the nitrogen content in the SM the one that is used like raw material for the bio-oil production for fast pyrolysis. This SM, to the being pyrolyzed a bio-oil is obtained with lower nitrogen content, in comparison to the obtained one of finished biomass.