Low-temperature catalyst based Hydrothermal liquefaction of harmful Macroalgal blooms, and aqueous phase nutrient recycling by microalgae

Vinod Kumar; Sanjay Kumar; P K Chauhan; Monu Verma; Vivekanand Bahuguna; Harish Chandra Joshi; Waseem Ahmad; Poonam Negi; Nishesh Sharma; Bharti Ramola; Indra Rautela; Manisha Nanda; Mikhail S Vlaskin

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-47664-w

Low-temperature catalyst based Hydrothermal liquefaction of harmful Macroalgal blooms, and aqueous phase nutrient recycling by microalgae

Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 6;9(1):11384. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-47664-w.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, 248007, India. vinodkdhatwalia@gmail.com.
² Department of Life Sciences, Food Technology, Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun, 248001, India.
³ Faculty of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology, Shoolini University, Solan, HP, India.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Amity School of Applied Sciences (ASAS), Amity University Haryana, Gurugram-122413, Haryana, India.
⁵ Department of Biotechnology, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, 248007, India.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, 248007, India.
⁷ Department of Biotechnology, Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Sciences, Dehradun, 248007, India. Manisha1083@gmail.com.
⁸ Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 13/2 Izhorskaya St, Moscow, 125412, Russia.

Abstract

The present study investigates the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of harmful green macroalgal blooms at a temperature of 270 °C with, and without a catalyst with a holding time of 45 min. The effect of different catalysts on the HTL product yield was also studied. Two separation methods were used for recovering the biocrude oil yield from the solid phase. On comparision with other catalyst, Na₂CO₃ was found to produce higher yiled of bio-oil. The total bio-oil yield was 20.10% with Na₂CO₃, 18.74% with TiO₂, 17.37% with CaO, and 14.6% without a catalyst. The aqueous phase was analyzed for TOC, COD, TN, and TP to determine the nutrient enrichment of water phase for microalgae cultivation. Growth of four microalgae strains viz., Chlorella Minutissima, Chlorella sorokiniana UUIND6, Chlorella singularis UUIND5 and Scenedesmus abundans in the aqueous phase were studied, and compared with a standard growth medium. The results indicate that harmful macroalgal blooms are a suitable feedstock for HTL, and its aqueous phase offers a promising nutrient source for microalgae.

MeSH terms

Biofuels*
Biomass
Carbonates / chemistry*
Catalysis
Harmful Algal Bloom*
Hot Temperature
Industrial Microbiology / methods*
Microalgae / metabolism*
Nutrients / metabolism
Water Microbiology

Substances

Biofuels
Carbonates
sodium carbonate