Biocrude Upgrading in Different Solvents after Microalgae Hydrothermal Liquefaction

Hydrothermal liquefaction of the third-generation biomass represented by microalgae can produce biocrude. However, the directly obtained biocrude has a high heteroatom content and a low higher heating value (HHV), which cannot meet the standards of biofuel. In this work, water-insoluble biocrude which was directly gained from microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) was upgraded under four kinds of solvents (i.e., methanol, ethanol, acetone, and H2O) and one type of catalyst (H2O + Ru/C) at 240-400 degrees C for 1 h. The results show that the HHV and C and H contents of upgraded bio-oil increased and the O/C ratio decreased significantly after solvent upgrading. The highest upgraded bio-oil yield appeared in the case of ethanol upgrading and reached the maximum value of 82.8 wt % at 360 degrees C. The upgraded bio-oil yield of acetone upgrading increased from 45.8 to 68.2 wt % as the temperature increased within 240-400 degrees C. Also, esterification reactions between alcohol and acid in the supercritical system remarkably reduced the content of carboxyl-containing organic matter.

Automated summary

Upgrading of water-insoluble biocrude from microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction using solvents and a catalyst significantly increased the HHV and C and H contents, while decreasing the O/C ratio. Among the solvents, ethanol upgrading showed the best performance, and the bio-oil yield of acetone upgrading increased with temperature.