Development of Chemical Looping Gasification of microalgae for the 3rd-Generation BioFuels production

Global warming is leading to serious climate consequences worrying the world. What’s worse, the global CO2 budget will be used up soon, likely before 2030. Therefore, actions for CO2 mitigation are urgently needed to meet the agreed climate targets.

Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) are possibly the only implementable option to tackle this problem in such short period.

This project stands on a novel NETs technology called Chemical Looping Gasification (CLG) and aims at producing the 3rd-Generation BioFuels (G3BioF). CLG is an unmixed gasification using oxygen carrier to transfer oxygen for gasification, thus fuel and air never mix.

In light of this unique feature, the gasification product is absent of N2 dilution (thus the CO2 capture is inherent), and in the ash-free air reactor heat-exchanger corrosion is less possible. Microalgae is biomass, a major source for G3BioF, but it has very high content of problematic ash impurities.

However, CLG is hypothesized capable to handle this fuel, in addition to its negative CO2 emissions.

This project will first select suitable oxygen carrier for microalgae-CLG, through intensive experiments in a batch fluidized-bed reactor and an 1.5 kW continuous pilot.

The selected oxygen carrier will be used in a 50 kW dual fluidized-bed pilot for proof of concept and performance optimization.

A process model with reaction kinetics details will be established and used to analyze the technology integration with downstream processes. Finally, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be applied to the process chain to evaluate the environmental impacts. This is expected to identify the most promising integration having the best economic and lowest environmental impact.

Through the project, the applicant will progress as a scientist and gain at least skills of LCA, complex pilot operation, tar analysis.

This project is ambitious for a much greener production of biofuels and the results are important to power a sustainable future.