Algal biomass is attractive for renewable liquid fuels, but much water accompanies this aquatic biomass feedstock.  The energy requirements for drying algae are very high, which militates against a large-scale fuel production process employing this step.  Thus, there is a need for processes that convert wet algal biomass directly and therefore operate in the aqueous phase.  Our lab has been developing one such process, which uses hydrothermal liquefaction to produce a crude bio-oil from wet algae paste and then hydrothermal catalytic upgrading of the biocrude to make a largely hydrocarbon product in high yield.  This presentation will provide new results from our lab on the liquefaction pathways and kinetics and on the roles and effectiveness of different upgrading catalysts for removing heteroatoms from and reducing the viscosity of the biocrude.  We will present information about how the fate of different atoms (C, H, N, S, P) in the algal biomass depends on the liquefaction and upgrading conditions used in the processing steps.

Hydrothermal process for making hydrocarbons from wet algal biomass

244th National Meeting (2012)

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