Photobioreactor cultivation and catalytic pyrolysis of the microalga Desmodesmus communis (Chlorophyceae) for hydrocarbons production by HZSM-5 zeolite cracking

•Desmodesmus communis was grown in a photobioreactor in semi-continuous system.•Scale-up to bench scale pyrolysis confirmed the Py-GC-MS results.•Gasoline-like fraction was trapped by dissolution in a cooled n-heptane.•Small amount of 3- and 4-rings PAHs was detected into the catalytic oil.

The study evaluated the growth of Desmodesmus communis on column photobioreactor and its thermochemical treatment by catalytic pyrolysis using HZSM-5 zeolite. D. communis showed good results in terms of growth (0.05g L−1 d−1). Analytical pyrolysis of original algae and derived bio-oil mixed with zeolite was used as a screening method in order to gather information on the cracking process. Preparative pyrolysis on bench scale reactor was performed on algae biomass over a zeolite bed at 1:10 ratio (wt/wt). Py-GC-MS of biomass/catalyst mixture showed that the denitrogenation/deoxygenation increased with increasing zeolite load from 1:5 to 1:20 ratio and became significant at 1:10 ratio. The composition observed by analytical pyrolysis was featured by the predominance of alkylated monoaromatic hydrocarbons. The scaling-up to bench scale confirmed the results obtained with analytical pyrolysis in terms of monoaromatic hydrocarbons. However, low yield of catalytic oil (8% by weight) was observed.

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