A parametric study on supercritical water gasification of Laminaria hyperborea: a carbohydrate-rich macroalga

Ramzi Cherad, Jude Onwudili, Paul T. Williams, Andrew B. Ross

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The potential of supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of macroalgae for hydrogen and methane production has been investigated in view of the growing interest in a future macroalgae biorefinery concept. The compositions of syngas from the catalytic SCWG of Laminaria hyperborea under varying parameters including catalyst loading, feed concentration, hold time and temperature have been investigated. Their effects on gas yields, gasification efficiency and energy recovery are presented. Results show that the carbon gasification efficiencies increased with reaction temperature, reaction hold time and catalyst loading but decreased with increasing feed concentrations. In addition, the selectivity towards hydrogen and/or methane production from the SCWG tests could be controlled by the combination of catalysts and varying reaction conditions. For instance, Ru/Al2O3 gave highest carbon conversion and highest methane yield of up to 11 mol/kg, whilst NaOH produced highest hydrogen yield of nearly 30 mol/kg under certain gasification conditions.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)573-580
Number of pages8
JournalBioresource Technology
Volume169
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2014

Bibliographical note

© 2015, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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