Kinetic study of the pyrolysis of microalgae under nitrogen and CO2 atmosphere

Hong, Yu, Xie, Chengrui, Chen, Wanru, Luo, Xiang, Shi, Kaiqi and Wu, Tao (2020) Kinetic study of the pyrolysis of microalgae under nitrogen and CO2 atmosphere. Renewable Energy, 145 . pp. 2159-2168. ISSN 0960-1481

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Abstract

In this study, three primary components of algae (lipid, carbohydrate and protein) and one microalgae (spirulina) were pyrolyzed using a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) under nitrogen and CO2 atmosphere at four heating rates. It was found that protein decomposed first, followed by carbohydrate and then lipid. The kinetic study revealed that the lowest activation energy for the initiation of the pyrolysis of ovalbumin (protein) is ∼70 kJ/mol. Oil droplet showed higher activation energy of 266.5 kJ/mol during its pyrolysis in the CO2 atmosphere, which suggests that algal lipid is more difficult to decompose in the CO2 atmosphere. However, for the pyrolysis of cellulose (carbohydrate), the activation energy (∼310 kJ/mol) is similar under two different gas atmospheres tested. This study showed that CO2 atmosphere favors the pyrolysis of algae with high protein content and low lipid content, since the existence of CO2 promotes the cracking of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) as well as the reaction between VOCs and CO2.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This paper is under the Global University Publication Licence.
Keywords: Kinetics; Pyrolysis; Algae; Model compounds; Carbon dioxide
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham Ningbo China > Faculty of Science and Engineering > Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.07.135
Depositing User: QIU, Lulu
Date Deposited: 12 Sep 2019 12:15
Last Modified: 30 Jul 2021 04:30
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/58973

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