Valorization of algal waste via pyrolysis in a fixed-bed reactor: production and characterization of bio-oil and bio-char

The aim of the present work is to develop processes for the production of bio-oil and bio-char from algae waste using the pyrolysis at controlled conditions. The pyrolysis was carried out at different temperatures 400-600 °C and different heating rates 5-50 °C/min. The algal waste, bio-oil and bio-char were successfully characterized using Elemental analysis, Chemical composition, TGA, FTIR, 1H-NMR, GC-MS and SEM. At a temperature of 500 °C and a heating rate of 10 °C/min, the maximum yield of biooil and bio-char was found to be 24.10 and 44.01wt%, respectively, which was found to be strongly influenced by the temperature variation, and weakly affected by the heating rate variation. Results show that the bio-oil cannot be used as bio-fuel, but can be used as a source of value-added chemicals. On the other hand, the bio-char is a promising candidate for solid fuel applications and for the production of carbon materials.