Source: AUBURN UNIVERSITY submitted to
PRODUCTION OF FUELS AND ACTIVATED CARBON FROM ALGAL BIOMASS GROWN IN WASTE WATER USING HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION PROCESS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1008082
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Nov 19, 2015
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Project Director
Adhikari, SU.
Recipient Organization
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
108 M. WHITE SMITH HALL
AUBURN,AL 36849
Performing Department
Biosystems Engineering
Non Technical Summary
The third generation biofuels are derived from algal biomass. The main merit of using algae is that it provides much higher yields of biomass and fuels, and can be grown under conditions, which are unsuitable for conventional crops production. In addition, it relieves food-versus-fuel pressure on agricultural lands. However, the use of large volumes of fresh water makes algal biomass unattractive, but the use of wastewater (as a source of nutrients) either from agricultural lands or municipalities is an option to grow large quantity of algal biomass. In addition, algae are capable of fixing CO2 in the atmosphere thus resulting in the reduction of increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. Algal biomass can be converted into biofuels using a number of techniques, but hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) has an ability to process wet biomass (as opposed to dry biomass in the case of pyrolysis and gasification processes) and produce liquids, also known as biocrude. In addition to biocrude, aqueous phase, solids (biochar) and gases are also being produced. These HTL co-products can be converted to chemicals and bioproducts while minimizing the waste streams.The overall goal of this project is to develop biofuels and bioproducts from algal biomass grown in wastewater, and make algal biorefinery economically and technologically sustainable. The specific objectives of this project are to (i) understand the effect of process parameters (temperature, residence time and solids loading) during HTL process; (ii) develop a process to produce "drop-in" fuels from biocrude from HTL and characterize; (iii) investigate the effect of acidic catalysts to produce hydrocarbons from aqueous phase of HTL; and (iv) produce high surface area carbons from biochar and characterize for battery applications.The proposed topic covers both fundamental and applied research. The innovative part of this research is to develop an in-depth understanding of aqueous phase and solids produced from HTL process, and proposed processes to produce high-value chemicals and products from them. It is expected that this project will discover new method(s) to produce chemicals from aqueous phase, which otherwise would have been disposed as wastewater. In addition, we will find a new use of biochar and possibly in the field of energy storage. The applied part of the research is to develop an understanding on how algal biomass grown in wastewater is differed from those that are grown in fresh water. In addition, the study will examine how the HTL process parameters influence products yield, and how the different metal catalysts play a role in biocrude upgrading to final fuel.The proposed research proposal is closely aligned with bioenergy and bio-based economy priority area of the AAES RFA, and is currently supported by the several funding agencies such as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and National Science Foundation (NSF). The data gathered in this project will be incorporated into future proposal for extramural funding.
Animal Health Component
30%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
30%
Developmental
20%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
51122992020100%
Knowledge Area
511 - New and Improved Non-Food Products and Processes;

Subject Of Investigation
2299 - Miscellaneous and new crops, general/other;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to develop biofuels and bioproducts from algal biomass grown in wastewater, and make algal biorefinery economically and technologically sustainable. The specific objectives of this project are to (i) understand the effect of process parameters (temperature, residence time and solids loading) during HTL process; (ii) develop a process to produce "drop-in" fuels from biocrude from HTL and characterize; (iii) investigate the effect of acidic catalysts to produce hydrocarbons from aqueous phase of HTL; and (iv) produce high surface area carbons from biochar and characterize for battery applications.The proposed topic covers both fundamental and applied research. The innovative part of this research is to develop an in-depth understanding of aqueous phase and solids produced from HTL process, and proposed processes to produce high-value chemicals and products from them. It is expected that this project will discover new method(s) to produce chemicals from aqueous phase, which otherwise would have been disposed as wastewater. In addition, we will find a new use of biochar and possibly in the field of energy storage. The applied part of the research is to develop an understanding on how algal biomass grown in wastewater is differed from those that are grown in fresh water. In addition, the study will examine how the HTL process parameters influence products yield, and how the different metal catalysts play a role in biocrude upgrading to final fuel. This study will be performed in Biosystems and Dr. Adhikari, Associate Professor in Biosystems Engineering, has more than six years of experience working with bio-oil production, characterization and upgrading. He has right expertise and equipment to work on the proposed project.
Project Methods
Attached.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached during this period were mainly undergraduate, graduate students and the scientific community that is interested in biofuels production from fast pyrolysis process. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided opportunities to learn research skills for undergraduate andgraduate students and Post-doc. Undergraduate students learn about experiment design and data collection with accuracy. Graduate students learn a number of analytical skills to characterize biocrude and aqueous phase and also write manuscripts. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were disseminated mainly through published peer-reviewed papers and presentation at national meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project is complete. Therefore, there is no plan to continue this research project. However, data collected from this study will be evaluated carefully and develop new projects for funding.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The study was divided into four parts: production of bio-crude from algal biomass using hydrothermal liquefaction; upgrading of bio-crude for the production of transportation fuels, utilization of aqueous phase for the production of hydrocarbons, and utilization of bio-char for the high value applications.The firstpart of thestudy focused on the effect of biochemical composition on biocrude yield and properties. The second partof the study focused on understanding the role of different heterogeneous catalysts for the production of transportation fuels. The third part of the study focused on producing methane gas from the aqueous phase of algae produce during the hydrothermal liquefaction. The fourth part of the study tested different bio-char produced from woody biomass, algal biomass and canola mealfor battery applications.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Saravanan R. Shanmugam, Sushil Adhikari, Zhouhang Wang, Rajdeep Shakya. Treatment of aqueous phase of bio-oil by granular activated carbon and evaluation of biogas production. Bioresource Technology. Vol. 223. pp. 115-120
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Saravanan R. Shanmugam, Sushil Adhikari, Hyungseok Nam, Sourov Kar Sajib. Effect of bio-char on methane generation from glucose and aqueous phase of algae liquefaction using mixed anaerobic cultures. Biomass and Bioenergy. Manuscript ID. JBB-D-17-00262R1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Rajdeep Shakya, Sushil Adhikari, Ravishankar Mahadevan, Saravanan R Shanmugam*, Hyungseok Nam*, El Barbary Hassan, Thomas Dempster. Influence of biochemical composition during hydrothermal liquefaction of algae on product yields and fuel properties. Bioresource Technology. Vol. 243, pp. 1112-1120
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Saravanan R. Shanmugam, Sushil Adhikari and Rajdeep Shakya. Nutrient removal and energy production from aqueous phase of bio-oil generated via hydrothermal liquefaction of algae. Bioresource Technology. Vol. 230. pp. 43-48


Progress 11/19/15 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached during this period were mainly undergraduate, graduate students and the scientific community that is interested in biofuels production from hydrothermal liquefaction process. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided opportunities to learn research skills for undergraduate and graduate students and Post-doc. Undergraduate students learn about experiment design and data collection with accuracy. Graduate students learn a number of analytical skills to characterize biocrude and aqueous phase and also write manuscripts. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results were disseminated mainly through published peer-reviewed papers and presentation at national meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project is complete. Therefore, there is no plan to continue this research project. However, data collected from this study will be evaluated carefully and develop new projects for funding.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The study was divided into four parts: production of bio-crude from algal biomass using hydrothermal liquefaction; upgrading of bio-crude for the production of transportation fuels, utilization of aqueous phase for the production of hydrocarbons, and utilization of bio-char for the high value applications. The first part of the study focused on the effect of biochemical composition on biocrude yield and properties. The second part of the study focused on understanding the role of different heterogeneous catalysts for the production of transportation fuels. The third part of the study focused on producing methane gas from the aqueous phase of algae produce during the hydrothermal liquefaction. The fourth part of the study tested different bio-char produced from woody biomass, algal biomass and canola meal for battery applications.

Publications


    Progress 11/19/15 to 09/30/16

    Outputs
    Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate students were trained in hydrothernal liquefaction and anaerobic digestion. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes. Results were disseminated through peer reviewed manuscripts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next phase, we plan on understanding the role of biochar on methane production and recovering N and P from aqueous phase.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Algae biocrude was treated with hydrogen using metal catalysts supported on activated carbon for the production of biofuel. The biocrude was produced using hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae (Scenedesmus-dominated polyculture) grown in municipal wastewater. Four metal catalysts (platinum, ruthenium, nickel and cobalt) were tested at 350oC under the presence of high pressure hydrogen, and all the experiments were conducted at a weight hourly space velocity of 0.51 g/gcat•h. Hydrotreating with all the catalysts increased higher heating value, while reducing viscosity and total acid number (TAN) of the biocrude. For example, biocrude upgraded using platinum catalyst increased the heating value from 45.9 to 47.0 MJ/kg and reduced the TAN from 11.56 to 0.1 mg KOH/g. In addition, the liquid produced was colorless. Furthermore, the use of ruthenium and platinum catalysts greatly enhanced the yield of hexadecane and octadecane in the hydrogen-treated liquids whereas heptadecane was less favored. Overall, hydrogen treatment of biocrude was effective in improving the quality of biocrude produced from algae grown in wastewater. The BET surface area was reduced for all the spent catalysts. Bio-oil aqueous phase generated during liquefaction process was utilized for biogas production following substrate pre-treatment with granular activated carbon. Adsorption using 30% activated carbon resulted in higher chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction (53±0.3%) of aqueous phase. Higher CH4 production (84±12 mL/g COD) was also observed in 30% carbon-treated aqueous phase fed cultures, whereas only 32±6 mL CH4/g COD was observed in control (non-carbon treated) cultures. The results from this study indicates that almost 67±0.3% initial COD of aqueous phase can be reduced using a combination of both carbon treatment and biogas production. Our study showed that aqueous phase could be utilized for CH4 production.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Zhouhong Wang, Sushil Adhikari, Peter Valdez, Rajdeep Shakya and Cassidy Laird. Upgrading of hydrothermal liquefaction biocrude from algae grown in municipal wastewater. Fuel Processing Technology. Vol.142, pp.147-156
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Saravanan R. Shanmugam, Sushil Adhikari, Zhouhang Wang, Rajdeep Shakya. Treatment of aqueous phase of bio-oil by granular activated carbon and evaluation of biogas production. Bioresource Technology. Vol. 223. pp. 115-12