Modelling and Simulation Studies on the Characteristic Behaviour of Macroalgae Derived Bio-Oil

Abstract

With the expanding need for renewable and sustainable energy resources, the demand for biomass derived bio-oil particularly microalgae or macroalgae based bio-oil is growing. In this regard, understanding the characteristics of bio-oil as a function of several influencing operational parameters is essential. In this study modelling and simulation technique based on Aspen HYSYS was applied to investigate the characteristics of macroalgae Ulva prolifera derived bio-oil from Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) process as a function of the influencing parameters like temperature, kinematic viscosity, and weight percent of the bio-oil assay, cut yield behaviour, and standard liquid density. Modelling and simulation help to optimise the process parameters and design the process layout for large-scale production. According to the simulation results the cut yield of off gases, light naphtha, heavy naphtha, light distillate, heavy distillate, gas oil and residues are shown at specific final boiling point (FBP) temperatures of 70 °C, 70 °C - 110 °C, 110 °C - 221.1 °C, 221.1 °C - 304.4 °C, 304.4 °C - 371.1 °C, 371.1 °C - 537.8 °C and 537.7 °C respectively. Whereas, above a temperature of 300 °C, the weight percentage of aromatic components increased steadily. The increase in percentage composition of the aromatic components is due to the reduction of the paraffinic components. The density of the liquid bio-oil was steadily increasing until a temperature of 200 °C.