Investigation of catalytic pyrolysis of spirulina for bio-oil production

The energy crisis, pollution, and environmental effects caused by the use of fossil fuels have made mankind use renewable energy; bio-oil is one of the types of renewable energy. A pyrolysis reactor with a diameter of 7.8 cm, a height of 23 m, a capacity of 1 L, and a reformer reactor with a diameter of 5.4 cm, a height of 20 cm, and a capacity of 0.45 L were used. The effect of using cobalt catalyst based on zeolite and its comparison with direct pyrolysis of microalgae Spirulina sp. was investigated. The optimum conditions for the highest bio-oil production efficiencies were temperature 468 degrees C, carrier gas discharge rate equal to 0.31 L min(-)1(,) and heating rate equal to 14.4 degrees C min-1. As shown by the results, adding the catalyst increased high heat value and bio-oil energy yield. The bio-oil from catalytic pyrolysis for Spirulina sp. demonstrates a higher heating value equal to 34.43 MJ kg(-1) and these figures for direct pyrolysis were 27.22 KJ kg(-1). The bio-oil obtained from Spirulina sp. pyrolysis demonstrates the highest heat value (HHV), high cetane number, and low iodine number. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Due to the energy crisis and environmental effects caused by fossil fuels, renewable energy sources, such as bio-oil, have been utilized. In this study, the use of cobalt catalyst based on zeolite and its comparison with direct pyrolysis of Spirulina sp. microalgae were explored. The addition of catalyst resulted in higher heating value and bio-oil energy yield.