ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. Algae biocrude was treated with hydrogen in isoparaffin solvent (Soltrol® 125) using metal catalysts supported on activated carbon for the production of biofuel. Four metal catalysts (platinum, ruthenium, nickel and cobalt) were tested at 350^oC under the presence of high pressure hydrogen, and all the experiments were conducted at weight hourly space velocity of 0.51 g_oil/g_cat•h. Hydrogen-treated biocrude in the presence of metal catalysts reduced its darkness, which could be the degradation and hydrogenation of melanoidin-like components. In addition, hydrogen treatment with catalyst increased higher heating value and reduced viscosity and total acid number (TAN) of the biocrude. Furthermore, the use of ruthenium and platinum catalysts greatly enhanced the yield of hexadecane and octadecane in the hydrogen-treated liquids instead of heptadecane, which was favored in supercritical water treatment. Overall, using isoparaffin and metal on activated carbon catalyst for hydrogen treatment of biocrude was effective in improving the quality of biocrude without leeching of metal. Instead, sulfur and additional metal (iron and nickel) was picked up from biocrude originated from municipal wastewater treatment microalgae.