Thermogravimetric study on pyrolysis kinetics of Chlorella pyrenoidosa and bloom-forming cyanobacteria

Bioresour Technol. 2015 Feb:177:41-50. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.11.061. Epub 2014 Nov 20.

Abstract

The pyrolysis process of two microalgae, Chlorella pyrenoidosa (CP) and bloom-forming cyanobacteria (CB) was examined by thermo-gravimetry to investigate their thermal decomposition behavior under non-isothermal conditions. It has found that the pyrolysis of both microalgae consists of three stages and stage II is the major mass reduction stage with mass loss of 70.69% for CP and 64.43% for CB, respectively. The pyrolysis kinetics of both microalgae was further studied using single-step global model (SSGM) and distributed activation energy model (DAEM). The mean apparent activation energy of CP and CB in SSGM was calculated as 143.71 and 173.46 kJ/mol, respectively. However, SSGM was not suitable for modeling pyrolysis kinetic of both microalgae due to the mechanism change during conversion. The DAEM with 200 first-order reactions showed an excellent fit between simulated data and experimental results.

Keywords: Bloom-forming cyanobacteria; Chlorella pyrenoidosa; Kinetic study; Pyrolysis; Thermogravimetric analysis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomass
  • Chlorella / metabolism*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Cyanobacteria / metabolism*
  • Differential Thermal Analysis
  • Eutrophication*
  • Hot Temperature*
  • Kinetics
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Normal Distribution
  • Thermogravimetry / methods*