Gasification of cyanobacterial in supercritical water

Cyanobacterial collected from eutrophic freshwater lakes constituted intractable waste with a rich algae biomass content. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) was proposed to treat the cyanobacterial and to produce hydrogen for energy. The H-2 yield reached 2.92 mol/kg at reaction conditions of 500 degrees C, 30 min and 22 MPa; this yield accounted for 26% of the total gaseous products. Abundant ammonia and dissolved reactive phosphorous were concentrated in the liquid product, which could be recovered and used as a liquid fertilizer. Solid residue, which accounted only for about 1% of the wet weight, was mainly composed of coke and ash. The efficiency of H-2 production was better than that from other biomass, because of the abundant organic matter in cyanobacterial. Thus, cyanobacterial are an ideal biomass feedstock for H-2 production from SCWG.