Experimental study of the process of hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae biomass with subsequent study of the resulting products by thermogravimetric analysis and calorimetry

Microalgae biomass is one of the most promising sources of renewable biofuels. The fuel produced from microalgae is called "third-generation biofuels". This type of biomass is not the main raw material for food and is usually grown in areas unsuitable for crop production. The productivity of microalgae (per unit area used for cultivation) with biomass and fats (lipids) is ten times higher than the corresponding yield of terrestrial biomass. In recent years, hydro thermal technologies have attracted increasing attention as promising ways to process microalgae biomass into biofuels. However, the most attractive technology is hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of microalgae to produce liquid biofuels (bio-oil) as the target product. One of the main advantages of GTS technology is that not only lipids, but also carbohydrates and proteins contribute to the yield of bio-oil, which increases the overall yield of the product. In this paper, an experimental study of the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process of microalgae biomass Arthrospira platensis was performed to obtain mass data on the yield of products and further study of the products of this process using thermogravimetric analysis and calorimetry, with the determination of the effect of process parameters on the yield and quality of products.

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