Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Temperature is one of the major factors that affecting the utilization of oil contents from microalgae. It is important to observe the thermal changes of algal oil in order to prevent it from oxidization. An integrated system of pyrolyzer and GC-MS was employed for the determination of the gaseous substances after pyrolysis. Microalgae (Chlorella sorokiniana) was loaded into the pyrolyzer and heated up to 410C ~ 810C and gaseous products were injected into GC-MS. Total ion current diagrams of the products were obtained. Different contents can be identified by comparing with NIST 05 database according to the retention time and peak area of different substances. It is suggested that the contents of pyrolyzed products change significantly along with the increasing temperature. For example, the content of carbon dioxide in pyrolyzed product decreased from 29.06% (at 410C) to 5.28% (at 710C). Some other major contents such as cyclobutanol, palmitic acid, 1-hydroxy-2-propanone, were also detected in the pyrolyzed products of microalgae samples.