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This work introduces an external loop to a bubble column and presents enhanced gas exchange in the heterogeneous flow regime. Gas exchange experiments under the same amount of gas input were carried out with varying gas velocity to understand the difference of bubble characteristic between the bubble column (BCR) and the bubble column with an external loop (BCR-EL). The observation of rise and descending velocity of bubbles in the BCR-EL showed that the fraction of bubbles passing the downcomer continuously increases with the incremental superficial gas velocity. A gas molecule in the liquid phase is desorbed by another gas molecule, and this gas exchange was assumed to be a phenomenon that a reactant in the liquid phase is converted to a product. To test the validity of the assumed gas exchange as a reaction in the experiments with the BCR-EL, a modeling study was performed using Fisher-Tropsch synthesis. It prevailed that the syngas conversion was higher in the BCR at the homogeneous flow regime, while the BCR-EL at the heterogeneous flow regime (above 0.08 m/s) had higher syngas conversion than the BCR due to higher gas recycle to the downcomer.

This work addressed the gas–liquid (G/L) mass transfer limitation coming from the increasing liquid height and the circumvention of the limitation by introducing a sieve tray in a bubble column. Either monoethylene glycol (MEG) solution or n-hexane was adopted as a liquid phase and argon was used as a gas phase in the bubble column. The gas holdup and the mass transfer coefficient became lowered by the static liquid height increase due to the increase of bubble size. The loss of mass transfer was overcome by installing a sieve tray inside the column. The two sieve trays with different hole sizes were employed and both bubble diameter and standard deviation of pressure were investigated to understand the effect of the sieve tray on the mass transfer. With a smaller size hole sieve (1 mm), the mass transfer deteriorated in both liquid systems (MEG and n-hexane) due to the formation of gas cap below the sieve while with a larger hole sieve (3 mm), it was enhanced because of the reduction of bubble diameters without any gas cap formation. However, it was found that the sieve tray effect was weakened when the flow regime changes from homogeneous to heterogeneous.

This study addresses in situ transesterification of highly wet microalgae with hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a catalyst. In situ transesterification was performed by heating the mixture of wet algal cells, HCl, methanol, and solvent in one pot, resulting in the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield over 90% at 95°C. The effects of reaction variables of temperature, amounts of catalyst, reactant, and solvent, and type of solvents on the yield were investigated. Compared with the catalytic effect of H2SO4, in situ transesterification using HCl has benefits of being less affected by moisture levels that are as high as or above 80%, and requiring less amounts of catalyst and solvent. For an equimolar amount of catalyst, HCl showed 15wt.% higher FAME yield than H2SO4. This in situ transesterification using HCl as a catalyst would help to realize a feasible way to produce biodiesel from wet microalgae.

This work addresses a reliable in situ transesterification process which integrates lipid extraction from wet microalgae, and its conversion to biodiesel, with a yield higher than 90 wt.%. This process enables single-step production of biodiesel from microalgae by mixing wet microalgal cells with solvent, methanol, and acid catalyst; and then heating them in one pot. The effects of reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, wet cell weight, reaction time, and catalyst volume on the conversion yield are investigated. This simultaneous extraction and transesterification of wet microalgae may enable a significant reduction in energy consumption by eliminating the drying process of algal cells and realize the economic production of biodiesel using wet microalgae.

This work addresses an unprecedented way of co-producing biodiesel (FAEE) and valuable chemicals of ethyl levulinate (EL), ethyl formate (EF) and diethyl ether (DEE) from wet in situ transesterification of microalgae. EL, EF, and DEE were significantly produced up to 23.1%, 10.3%, and 52.1% of the maximum FAEE mass with the FAEE yield higher than 90% at 125 °C. Experiments to elucidate a detailed route of EL and EF synthesis were fulfilled and it was found that its main route to the production of EL and EF was the acid hydrolysis of algal cells and esterification with ethanol. To investigate the effect of reaction variables on the products yields, comprehensive experiments were carried out with varying temperatures, solvent and alcohol volumes, moisture contents and catalyst amounts. Coproduction of DEE, EL, EF and FAEE can contribute to elevating the economic feasibility of microalgae-based biodiesel supply chain.