(195e) Pyrolytic Fractionation of Algal Feedstocks

Algae have been attracting a lot of interest as a new renewable source for production of fuels and chemicals. Most of the focus in the algal bio-fuel field was interested on production of biodiesel by well-established base catalyzed trans-esterification. However, economic, technological and political aspects prevent the large-scale commercialization of base-catalyzed trans-esterification process. Hence, algal pyrolysis attracts most of the interest in the recent times as it has the capability to produce liquid products of fuel value. 

Pyrolysis is one of the promising technologies considered for conversion of algae into bio-ethanol, bio-diesel and hydrocarbons. Bio-oils produced from pyrolysis of algae consist of nitrogen-compounds. The main concerns regarding presence of N-compounds are as follows: formation of NO_x upon combustion; can poison the catalyst used for de-oxygenation and also decreases fuel yields. Pyrolytic fractionation is a novel thermo-chemical conversion technique that would facilitate the production of multiple high grade N-free fuels from algal feedstocks. Detailed explanation of this approach and experimental results would be extensively discussed.