Experimental investigation on microwave assisted pyrolysis of algae for rapid bio-oil production

In order to explore technologies for rapid and cost-efficient bio-oil production from algae, the authors’ research group has developed a whole set of new process for algae variety selection, culture, harvest and dehydration. Based on the previous technical breakthrough by the research group in microwave assisted pyrolysis (MAP) of biomass, the optimized algae harvested from self-cultivated tank was dehydrated and used to conduct experiments on MAP of algae to produce bio-oil using self-developed equipment for microwave assisted pyrolysis of corn stover. Some algae-based bio-oil with water-oil two-phase stratification under natural conditions was obtained. The two-phase bio-oil products were then analyzed to acquire their compositions using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS); the compositions and their percentages were acquired, which can provide theoretical basis for refining algae-based bio-oil products for various usages and developing value-added by-products. The research results show that MAP of algae is a rapid, cost-competitive and efficient method for producing bio-oil, which provides reference for mass production of bio-oil from algae.