Biofuels from microalgae biomass: A review of conversion processes and procedures

Achieving the EU 2030 vision of a 15% minimum amount of biofuels utilized in the road transportation require more research on biofuel production from biomass feedstock. To this end, this review study examines the use of green, deep eutectic solvents and direct transesterification approaches for biomass conversion to biofuels. Next, biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of microalgae biomass is presented. Lastly, the effect of operating conditions, as well as advantages and limitations of several biomass conversion techniques are outlined. Of note, this study presents promising microalgae conversion processes which could be progressed are the use of bio-based solvents and supercritical fluids for biodiesel production, hydrothermal liquefaction for biogas production, microwave-induced pyrolysis for syngas production, and ultrasound/microwave enhanced extraction for bio-oil production. These are based on the possibility of high yield and process economics. We have also enumerated knowledge gaps needed to propel future studies.     

生物质热解油气化试验研究

生物质是一种环境友好可再生资源，可以通过多种途径转化为液体燃料。生物质热解液化即是在缺氧状态下对生物质进行快速加热，然后再对热解产物进行快速冷凝，最后获得一种称为生物油的液体燃料的技术。该技术以及生物油的特点主要有：热解液化温度为500℃，远低于生物质热解气化所     

Thermal self-sustainability of biochar production by pyrolysis

The pyrolysis of several agricultural and biofuel production residues (grape residues, sugarcane residues, dried distiller's grain, palm oil residues, apple pomace and forestry residue) has been carried out in a pilot bubbling fluidized bed pyrolyzer operating under a range of temperature from 300 to 600 °C and two vapor residence times (2 and 5 s), with the aim of determining their pyrolysis behavior including products yields and heat balance. The composition of the product gases was determined, from which their heating value was calculated. The liquid bio-oil was recovered with cyclonic condensers. The thermal sustainability of the pyrolysis process was estimated by considering the energy contribution of the product gases and of the liquid bio-oil in relation to the pyrolysis heat requirements. The most promising biomass feedstocks for the sustainable production of biochar were indentified. Furthermore, this study presented the char yield in relation to the excess heat that could be obtained by combusting the gas and bio-oil coproducts of biochar production, as functions of pyrolysis temperature and vapor residence time.     

Chemoselective catalytic conversion of glycerol as a biorenewable source to valuable commodity chemicals

New opportunities for the conversion of glycerol into value-added chemicals have emerged in recent years as a result of glycerol's unique structure, properties, bioavailability, and renewability. Glycerol is currently produced in large amounts during the transesterification of fatty acids into biodiesel and as such represents a useful by-product. This paper provides a comprehensive review and critical analysis on the different reaction pathways for catalytic conversion of glycerol into commodity chemicals, including selective oxidation, selective hydrogenolysis, selective dehydration, pyrolysis and gasification, steam reforming, thermal reduction into syngas, selective transesterification, selective etherification, oligomerization and polymerization, and conversion of glycerol into glycerol carbonate.     

Inorganics distribution in bio oils and char produced by biomass fast pyrolysis: The key role of aerosols

Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a promising process for the preparation of bio-oil dedicated to energy production. Inorganic species originally present in biomass are known to induce problems such as bio-oil instability or deposits and fouling. However the mechanisms of inorganic species release during biomass pyrolysis into the raw bio-oils still remain unclear. The present work focuses on the determination of inorganic distribution in the products from wheat straw and beech wood fast pyrolysis performed in a fluidized bed. More specifically, the bio-oils are fractionated by using a series of condensers. The results show that more than 60 wt.% of the inorganic content of the overall bio-oil is contained in the aerosols. Several possible interpretations for this observation are discussed. It is likely that the inorganics are transported within the aerosols droplets and solid particles which are recovered in the bio-oils, either by mechano-chemical processes, or by entrainment of submicron intermediate liquid compound formed in the first steps of biomass fast pyrolysis.     

Production of Low-carbon Light Olefins from Catalytic Cracking of Crude Bio-oil

Low-carbon light olefins are the basic feedstocks for the petrochemical industry. Catalytic cracking of crude bio-oil and its model compounds (including methanol, ethanol, acetic acid, acetone, and phenol) to light olefins were performed by using the La/HZSM-5 catalyst. The highest olefins yield from crude bio-oil reached 0.19 kg/(kg crude bio-oil). The reaction conditions including temperature, weight hourly space velocity, and addition of La into the HZSM-5 zeolite can be used to control both olefins yield and selectivity. Moderate adjusting the acidity with a suitable ratio between the strong acid and weak acid sites through adding La to the zeolite effectively enhanced the olefins selectivity and improved the catalyst stability. The production of light olefins from crude bio-oil is closely associated with the chemical composition and hydrogen to carbon effective ratios of feedstock. The comparison between the catalytic cracking and pyrolysis of bio-oil was studied. The mechanism of the bio-oil conversion to light olefins was also discussed.     

Products and production routes for the catalytic conversion of seed oil into fuel and chemicals: a comprehensive review

With the depletion of fossil resources, there is a need to find alternative resources of fuels and chemicals. The use of renewable feedstock such as those from seed oil processing is one of the best available resources that have come to the fore-front recently. This paper critically analyzes and highlights major factors in the biodiesel industry, such as seeds oil composition, production methods, properties of biodiesel, problems and potential solutions of using vegetable seed oil, the composition, quality and effective utilization of crude glycerol, the catalytic conversion of glycerol into possible fuels and chemicals.     

Bio-oil production by flash pyrolysis of sugarcane residues and post treatments of the aqueous phase

The pyrolysis of three sugarcane residues (internal bagasse, external and whole plant) has been carried out in a pilot bubbling fluidized bed pyrolyzer operating under a range of temperature from 300 °C to 600 °C and two vapor residence time (2 and 5 s), with the aim of determining their pyrolysis behavior including products yields and heat balance. The composition of the product gases was determined, from which their heating value was calculated. The liquid bio-oil was recovered with cyclonic condensers and separated into two phases, an aqueous phase and an organic phase. The energy content of the organic phase was determined in comparison with common fossil fuels. Activated carbon adsorption and distillation at 110 °C were used to treat the aqueous phase, with the aim of recovering valuable hydrocarbons and purifying the aqueous phase for wastewater disposal. Furthermore, the thermal sustainability of the pyrolysis process was estimated by considering the energy contribution of the product gases and of the liquid bio-oil in relation to the pyrolysis heat requirements. The optimum pyrolysis temperatures were identified in terms of maximizing the liquid yield, maximizing the energy from the product bio-oil, and maximizing the net energy from the product bio-oil after ensuring a self-sustainable process by utilizing the product gases and part of bio-oil as heat sources.     

Simultaneous determination of main reaction components in the reaction mixture during biodiesel production

The proposed analytical method allows for simultaneous determination by GC using a programed temperature vaporization injector and a flame ionization detector of the main reaction components (i.e. glycerol, methyl esters, mono‐, di‐, and triacylglycerols) in the reaction mixture during biodiesel production. The suggested method is convenient for the rapid and simple evaluation of the kinetic data gained during the transesterification reaction and, also partially serves as an indicator of the quality of biodiesel and mainly, as the indicator of the efficiency of the whole production process (i.e. the conversion of triacylglycerols to biodiesel and its time progress). The optimization of chromatographic conditions (e.g. the oven temperature program, injector setting, amount of derivatization reagent, and the derivatization reaction time) was performed. The method has been validated with crude samples of biodiesel made from waste‐cooking oils in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy, sensitivity, and limits of detection and quantification. The results confirmed a satisfactory degree of accuracy and repeatability (the mean RSDs were usually below 2%) necessary for the reliable quantitative determination of all components in the considerable concentration range (e.g. 10–1100 μg/mL in case of methyl esters). Compound recoveries ranging from 96 to 104% were obtained.     

微拟球藻脂肪热解及对全组分制备生物油的影响

以酸水解法从微拟球藻中提取的粗脂肪为原料,在管式裂解炉中考察不同热解温度下脂肪单组分的热解规律及对微拟球藻全组分各相产率及生物油性能的影响。利用热重分析仪分别考察粗脂肪及全组分的热失重特性,并求出相应的动力学参数。结果表明,脂肪热解能够提高全组分热解有机相产率并改善油品性能。随着温度的升高,粗脂肪与全组分热解后的有机相产率及油品性能的变化趋势相同,且生物油性能均在600℃时达到最佳。经热解,粗脂肪中含氧化合物含量降低,脂肪烃含量显著增加。对比全组分热解,粗脂肪热解后的油品脱氧率及氢、碳元素比例更高,因而增加全组分中脂肪的含量能够促进油品性能的进一步提高。对粗脂肪及全组分的热重数据进行计算,发现两者均满足二级化学反应机理,粗脂肪、全组分的活化能与指前因子分别为64.34 k J/mol与2.94×105min-1,48.13 k J/mol与2.96×103min-1。     

Sequential Dehydration and Oxidation of Biodiesel-derived Crude Glycerol into Acrylic Acid

With the fast development of the biodiesel industry, the byproduced crude glycerol becomes excessive due to the limited demand for refined glycerol. This article provides a green and efficient route to produce acrylic acid from crude glycerol, which is a promising alternative and complement to the petroleum-based production of acrylic acid due to its economic and environmental benefits. Among all the impurities, only the alkaline metal ions in crude glycerol significantly decreased the yield of acrylic acid. After desalination of the plant crude glycerol with ion-exchange resin to remove the critical impurities, the sequential dehydration and oxidation system gave 86% acrylic acid yield, which was as high as that with pure glycerol. In addition, the system showed good thermal stability and regeneration ability after the reaction with desalted crude glycerol. Both the HPW/Cs–Nb and VMo–SiC catalysts were stable for at least 70 h. The activity and selectivity were well recovered after regeneration at the coke burning temperature of 500°C.     

HZSM-5上生物质催化裂解的近期研究进展

概述了近期的HZSM-5对生物质和生物油催化裂解的研究进展,重点介绍了催化剂的应用、生物油提质的方法和反应机理.     

生物油中酚类化合物加氢脱氧催化剂研究进展

随着化石能源日益匮乏,生物质热裂解制备生物油广受关注.然而,生物油中含有大量酚、呋喃、醛、酮等含氧化合物,含氧量高达50%,导致其热值低、化学稳定性差等,因而阻碍了它的广泛应用,必须对其进行加氢脱氧精制降低含氧量.在生物油中众多含氧化合物中,酚羟基氧被认为是最难被脱除的.对酚类含氧化合物加氢脱氧催化剂及反应进行了简单综述,并提出了如何进一步提高催化剂性能的有效方法.     

Effective hydrodeoxygenation bio-oil via natural zeolite supported transition metal oxide catalyst

Bio-oil from biomass pyrolysis is promising to be used as a sustainable biofuel and high-value-added chemical. However, the presence of high acid, water, and oxygenate causes corrosive properties, low higher heating value (HHV), and instability of the bio-oil component. Therefore, refining the bio-oil is essential to improve its quality. In this study, we introduced natural zeolite (HZ) impregnated with transition metal oxide (TMO) to refine the bio-oil using the hydrodeoxygenation method (HDO) at various catalyst ratios and temperatures. We find that ZnO/HZ 5% wt. shows the best catalytic performance, with the conversion of organic phase reaching ～ 50%. The refined bio-oil from Fe₂O₃, ZnO, and CuO has high-quality physicochemical properties with carbon, oxygen, water level, and HHV values are 37–52%, 40–53%, 8–27%, and 17–21 MJ/kg, respectively. This result represents a high catalytic performance for the hydrodeoxygenation process of bio-oil using natural zeolite-based transition metal oxide for better and low-cost biofuel production.     

Kinetic study of thermal processing of glycerol by thermogravimetry

Over the past years, the production of biodiesel has significantly increased in Brazil due to its obligatory use in the composition of diesel for vehicle use. As a result, in the most ordinary processes, a hundred thousand tons of glycerol is produced as by-product per 1 billion liters of biodiesel. Glycerol has already been widely studied. Nonetheless, the quantity produced today demands new proposals for uses, such as a fuel. In this aim, the authors studied the kinetics of the thermal processing of glycerol. In this research, thermogravimetry (TG), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used to provide the experimental data. Kinetic parameters were calculated by Kissinger method for the global process observed during the heating of the samples from the room temperature up to 600 °C, both in open and in sealed crucibles (with a little hole). Kinetic data were also determined at different isoconversion conditions during heating, by applying Ozawa–Flynn–Wall and Blazejowski methods to TG data. Results show that glycerol heated from 30 to 600 °C, under normal pressure, does not experience simple volatilization. The activation energies calculated at different conversion degrees by these methods show that only volatilization occurs when the mass loss of glycerol is lower than 40% and that for higher conversion degrees, partial thermal decomposition and/or dissociation of glycerol are occurring as well. These facts are also confirmed by the volatilization enthalpies estimated using another method developed by Blazejowski based on Van’t Hoff equation.     

Comparison of Chromatographic Methods for the Determination of Bound Glycerol in Biodiesel

An important fuel criterion for biodiesel is bound glycerol, which is a function of the residual amount of triglycerides and partial glycerides in the biodiesel. Either high-temperature gas chromatography or high performance liquid chromatography can be used for determining these minor but important components in biodiesel. In this paper we have conducted a statistical study on the accuracy of the two methods for ascertaining the bound glycerol in biodiesel fuels obtained from different feedstocks. Analysis of variance showed that with one exception, namely diacylglycerols in some soy oil based biodiesel, there was no statistical difference in bound glycerol for the biodiesel samples analyzed or a difference between methods. Operationally, the high performance liquid chromatographic method is superior to the high temperature gas chromatographic method in that it requires no sample derivatization, has shorter analysis times, and is directly applicable to most biodiesel fuels.     

H2 enriched fuels from co-pyrolysis of crude glycerol with biomass

Pyrolysis of glycerol has been identified as a possible route for producing high added value fuels like renewable hydrogen (H₂). Crude glycerol (CG) is the main byproduct of biodiesel industry and without purification it is a low added value material due to the presence of impurities. Co-pyrolysis of CG with biomass may improve the efficiency of the process and as a primary step of gasification give important information concerning the maximization of H₂ concentration in the produced gas. Moreover, the thermochemical treatment of crude glycerol–biomass mixtures may offer several economic and environmental advantages in biodiesel industry and reduce the cost of biodiesel production. A mixture of CG with olive kernel (OK) was used as pyrolysis feed material. Pyrolysis of a 25 wt% mixture of CG with OK at high temperature (T = 720 °C) seemed to promote steam reforming reactions leading to an increase of H₂ concentration of 11.6 vv% in the pyrolysis gas in comparison to H₂ in gas obtained by low temperature pyrolysis (T = 520 °C).     

A review of chromatographic characterization techniques for biodiesel and biodiesel blends

This review surveys chromatographic technology that has been applied to the characterization of biodiesel and its blends. Typically, biodiesel consists of fatty acid methyl esters produced by transesterification of plant or animal derived triacylglycerols. Primary attention is given to the determination of trace impurities in biodiesel, such as methanol, glycerol, mono-, di-, and triacylglycerols, and sterol glucosides. The determination of the fatty acid methyl esters, trace impurities in biodiesel, and the determination of the biodiesel content of commercial blends of biodiesel in conventional diesel are also addressed.     

木质素二聚体模型物裂解历程的理论研究

木质素作为生物质的主要成分之一, 是生物油的重要组分, 在工业生产中有着重要的应用. 生物质高温裂解液化制备生物油的过程伴随着木质素的裂解, 因此研究木质素高温裂解历程, 对生物油的制备有很大的帮助. 利用密度泛函方法对木质素在高温条件下的裂解历程进行理论研究, 并通过对各步反应的热力学焓变计算, 确定了初次裂解的路径为Cα—Cβ和β-O-4热裂解路径. 根据进一步的研究预测了裂解反应的主要产物.     

Flash pyrolysis of grape residues into biofuel in a bubbling fluid bed

The pyrolysis of two grape residues (grape skins and the mixture of grape skins and seeds) has been carried out in a pilot bubbling fluidized bed pyrolyzer operating under a range of temperature from 300 to 600 °C and three vapor residence time (2.5, 5, and 20 s), with the aim of determining their pyrolysis behavior including products yields and heat requirements. The composition of the product gases was determined, from which their heating value was calculated. The liquid bio-oil was recovered with cyclonic condensers and separated into two phases, an aqueous phase and an organic phase. The chemical composition of these liquid phases was characterized. In addition, the environmental parameters of the distilled fraction (85–115 °C) of the aqueous phase were tested, while the heating value of the organic phase was determined. Furthermore, the thermal sustainability of the pyrolysis process was estimated by considering the energy contribution of the product gases and of the liquid bio-oil in relation to the pyrolysis heat requirements. The optimum pyrolysis temperatures were identified in terms of maximizing the liquid yield, maximizing the energy from the product bio-oil, and maximizing the net energy from the product bio-oil after ensuring a self-sustainable process by utilizing the product gases and bio-oil as heat sources.