Oily Products from Mosses and Algae via Pyrolysis

Abstract

In this study, the fuel properties of mosses and algae, and the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yield of bio-oil from moss and alga samples, were investigated. The yield of bio-oil from pyrolysis of the samples increased with temperature. The yields were increased up to 750 K in order to reach the plateau values at 775 K. The maximum yields were 39.1, 34.3, 33.6, 37.0, 35.4, 48.2 and 55.3% of the sample for Polytrichum commune, Dicranum scoparium, Thuidium tamarascinum, Sphagnum palustre, Drepanocladus revolvens, Cladophora fracta and Chlorella protothecoides, respectively. The bio-oil yield for Chlorella protothecoides (a microalga sample) rose from 5.7 to 55.3% as the temperature rose from 525 to 775 K, and then gradually decreased to 51.8% and was obtained at 875 K with a heating rate of 10 K/s. Formulas can be developed to calculate higher heating value (HHV) of different moss and alga samples. The calculated HHV using these new correlations showed mean differences ranging from −2.3% to +0.06%. The equation developed in this study showed good agreement with experimental results on moss and algae samples. The HHVs for bio-oils from mosses 21.5–24.8 MJ/kg and the HHVs for bio-oils from algae and microalga 32.5 and 39.7 MJ/kg, respectively, were obtained at temperature ranging from 775 to 825 K. In general, algae bio-oils are of higher quality than bio-oils from mosses. In general, microalgae bio-oils are higher quality than bio-oil from wood.