Obtaining renewable fuels through the thermal and thermocatalytic pyrolysis of microalgae using mesoporous materials of nickel and molybdenum
biofuels, microalgae, AlSBA-15, pyrolysis
Given the great demand of society for fuels and the need to use fuels that can reduce emissions of polluting gases, as well as recognizing the exhaustion of energy sources from fossil fuels, the use of microalgae have been highlighting in the context of sustainable innovation in order to use them for the production of biofuels because of their great biomass production capacity and their cultivation developed under adverse conditions, such as in wastewater. In view of this, he studied the synthesis and characterization of the mesoporous material AlSBA-15 with the incorporation of nickel and molybdenum metals in order to optimize the pyrolysis products of the microalgae biomass to obtain renewable fuels. The catalyst was synthesized by the hydrothermal method and direct incorporation of the aluminum and then impregnated with the metals nickel and molybdenum by the method of impregnation to incipient moisture in the proportion of 10% of metal in the material and were characterized by diffraction of lightning- X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA / DTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with dispersive energy spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The microalgae biomass was characterized by elemental analysis (CHN) and thermogravimetry (TGA). The catalysts presented reflections on the X-ray diffraction characteristics of the highly ordered P6mm hexagonal structure of the SBA-15 demonstrating that the incorporation of the metals did not modify the molecular sieve structure. The spectrum of the catalyst showed bands in the 1050 and 800 cm -1 regions related to the symmetrical and asymmetric elongation of the O-Si-O bonds and in 950 and 460 cm -1 attributed to the Si-OH bond elongation and the Si-O deformations -Yes, common in silicate materials. The thermogravimetric analysis of Fourier transform infrared (TG-FTIR) was performed to show a forecast of the products obtained by the temperature range and the study of the best pyrolysis conditions. Thus, it was found that from 600 ° C bands with vibration peaks centered between 2400 and 2250 cm -1 attributed to the stretching vibrations of the C = O functional group relative to CO2 molecules appeared. An indicative deoxygenation by decarbonylation that reflects an improvement of the fuel produced.