Investigation of catalytic pyrolysis of spirulina for bio-oil production

The energy crisis, pollution, and environmental effects caused by the use of fossil fuels have made mankind use renewable energy; bio-oil is one of the types of renewable energy. A pyrolysis reactor with a diameter of 7.8 cm, a height of 23 m, a capacity of 1 L, and a reformer reactor with a diameter of 5.4 cm, a height of 20 cm, and a capacity of 0.45 L were used. The effect of using cobalt catalyst based on zeolite and its comparison with direct pyrolysis of microalgae Spirulina sp. was investigated. The optimum conditions for the highest bio-oil production efficiencies were temperature 468 ℃, carrier gas discharge rate equal to 0.31 Lmin-1, and heating rate equal to 14.4 ℃min-1. As shown by the results, adding the catalyst increased high heat value and bio-oil energy yield. The bio-oil from catalytic pyrolysis for Spirulina sp. demonstrates a higher heating value equal to 34.43 MJkg-1 and these figures for direct pyrolysis were 27.22 KJkg-1. The bio-oil obtained from Spirulina sp. pyrolysis demonstrates the highest heat value (HHV), high cetane number, and low iodine number.