Seaweeds are an important part of the marine environment autotrophs. They are submerged forests of the seas near the shores and house various organisms. Seaweeds are now important source of many bio-products and they are grown and harvested in various parts of the world and contribute to the world blue economy. Utilization of marine resources in an environmentally friendly way is one of the solutions to fulfill the demand for bioenergy and bio-products in the advancing blue economy. In this work, we have investigated the bioenergy potential of selected marine macroalgae like Nitella and Dictyota species etc., using the slow pyrolysis technique at three different heating rates of 5, 10, and 20 °C.min<sup>-1 </sup>from room temperature to 800 °C in an inert nitrogen gas condition. The data obtained were fitted to model free iso-conversional methods (Friedman, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose, and Starink) using four valorization stages. The average activation energies obtained for the four-pyrolysis stages through the iso-conversional methods showed their suitability as biomass for pyrolytic conversion. The pre-exponential factor calculated from the kinetic compensation effect for the valorization processes shows both organic and inorganic components. The master plot methods showed that the reaction mechanism is mostly a diffusion-based process. The reproducibility of the data was further confirmed by fitting the experimental parameters obtained in the simulation process. The thermodynamics of the data showed the endothermic and non-spontaneous behavior of seaweed biomass. The entropic values showed the formation of more ordered molecules in the later pyrolysis stages. The overall results showed the suitability of the seaweed biomass as a feedstock for bioenergy generation and part of the blue economy.

Investigation of the bioenergy potential of selected seaweeds through slow pyrolysis and their role in blue economy

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.