Catalytic gasification of oil-extracted residue biomass of Botryococcus braunii

Catalytic gasification of the oil-extracted residue biomass of Botryococcus braunii was demonstrated in a laboratory-scale continuous feeding dual bed reactor. Steam gasification at 1023 K over Ni-Fe/Mg/Al catalyst can completely reform tar derived from pyrolysis of the residue biomass into C1 gases and hydrogen, and has achieved 91%-C conversion to gaseous product (CO+CO2+CH4). Composition of product gas has higher contents of CO and H2 with their ratio (H2/CO) of around 2.4 which is slightly H2-rich syngas. Maximum hydrogen yield of 74.7 mmol g-biomass(-1) obtained in this work is much higher than that from gasification of other algal biomass reported in literature. The residue biomass of B. braunii can be a superior renewable source of syngas or hydrogen.