Tailoring pyrogenic products from pyrolysis of defatted Euglena gracilis using CO2 as reactive gas medium

Jong Min Jung, Sok Kim, Jechan Lee, Jeong Ik Oh, Yoon E. Choi, Eilhann E. Kwon

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    18 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Pyrolysis of defatted Euglena gracilis was investigated in this study to maximize energy recovery from algal biomass after lipid extraction. Prior to pyrolysis of defatted E. gracilis, the growth rate of E. gracilis was monitored to determine its potential as an initial carbonaceous feedstock for pyrolysis. This study revealed that the cell density of E. gracilis linearly increased for the first 5 days, during which the cell density reached 6.06 ± 0.82 g L−1, demonstrating that defatted E. gracilis is a promising feedstock for pyrolysis. To increase the thermal efficiency of defatted E. gracilis pyrolysis, CO2 was employed as a reactive gas medium. CO levels were increased by 45% following pyrolysis of defatted E. gracilis in a CO2 environment compared to in an N2 environment. Considering that CO is a highly combustible permanent gas, the use of CO2 in pyrolysis may result in the production of more fuel-range gaseous chemicals. Additionally, CO2 utilization increased the gaseous product yield compared to N2-pyrolysis for treating the defatted algal biomass while decreasing tar yield.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)184-190
    Number of pages7
    JournalEnergy
    Volume174
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019 May 1

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by the Marine Biotechnology Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) (No. 20170488 ). This research was also supported by the Government of South Korea through the National Research Foundation of Korea ( NRF-2018R1A6A3A11045442 ).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

    Keywords

    • Carbon dioxide
    • Euglena gracilis
    • Microalgae
    • Pyrolysis
    • Syngas
    • Thermo-chemical process

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Pollution
    • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
    • General Energy
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
    • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
    • Building and Construction
    • Fuel Technology
    • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
    • Civil and Structural Engineering
    • Modelling and Simulation

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