Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development 8 (2) 2019: 133-140
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Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development (IJRED)
Journal homepage: http://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/ijred
Comparative Analysis Between Pyrolysis Products of Spirulina
platensis Biomass and Its Residues
Siti Jamilatun
a
, Budhijanto
b
, Rochmadi
b
, Avido Yuliestyan
c
, H. Hadiyanto
d
and
Arief Budiman
b,e,*
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Jalan Kapas 9, Yogyakarta 55166,
Indonesia
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Jalan Grafika 2, Yogyakarta 55284,
Indonesia
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Yogyakarta,
Jalan SWK 104, Yogyakarta 55283, Indonesia
d
Center of Biomass and Renewable Energy, Chemical Engineering Department, Diponegoro University, Jl.Prof Soedarto,SH-Tembalang,
Semarang Indonesia.
e
Center for Energy Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip K1A, Yogyakarta 55284, Indonesia.
*
ABSTRACT. Today’s needs of energy are yet globally dominated by fossil energy sources, causing the depletion of non-renewable energy.
Alternatively, a potential substitute is the energy of biomass. Spirulina platensis (SP) is a microalgae biomass which, if extracted, will
produce solid waste called Spirulina platensis residue (SPR). This research explores the pyrolysis product, produced within the range of
300 – 600 ºC, from the pyrolysis of SP and SPR using fixed bed reactors. The influence of temperature on pyrolysis product’s yield and
characteristics are investigated by using mass balance method and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique,
respectively. The results from mass balance method present an optimum pyrolysis temperature of 550 ºC to obtain the desired liquid
product of bio-oil, presenting the percentage of 34.59 wt.% for SP and 33.44 wt.% for SPR case. Additionally, with the increasing
temperature, the char yield decreases for about 30 wt.% and the yield of gas seems to sharp increase from 550 to 600 ºC. These tendencies
are both applied for SP and SPR source pyrolysis product. Interestingly, the benefit use as fossil fuel substitute might be derived, thanks
to high HHV at the bio-oil product (32.04 MJ/kg for SP and 25.70 MJ/kg for SPR) and also at the char product with of 18.85-26.12 MJ/kg
for both cases. The additional benefit come from the high content of C in its char product (50.31 wt.% for SPR and 45.26 wt.% for SP) that
might be able to be used as an adsorbent, soil softener or other uses in the pharmaceutical field.
Keywords: Spirulina platensis; Spirulina platensis residue; Pyrolysis; Fixed-bed reactor; Biofuels; Chemicals.
Article History: Received: January 16, 2019; Revised: April 20, 2019; Accepted: May 6, 2019; Available online: July 15, 2019
How to Cite This Article: Jamilatun, S., Budhijanto, B., Rochmadi, R., Yuliestyan, A., Hadiyanto, H., and Budiman, A. (2019) Comparative
Analysis Between Pyrolysis Products of Spirulina platensis Biomass and Its Residues. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 8(2), 133-
140.
https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.8.2.133-140
1. Introduction
The decline in population growth from 2016 to 2018 does
not necessarily in line with energy needs, as evidenced by
the increasing need of crude oil by 1.6 % associated to a
high demand in transportation and petrochemical
industry (Roser and Ortiz-Ospina, 2017). In addition, gas
and coal consumption rise up to 3 % and 1 %, respectively
to cause an increase in carbon emissions of around 1.4 %,
or equivalent to 32.5 Gtons (International Energy Agency,
2018). Although the contribution of renewable energy
gains to 6.3 %, driven by the expansion of wind, solar and
hydropower plants, the use of fossil energy is still around
81 % of the world's energy needs within the last 30 years
(International Energy Agency, 2018).
*
Corresponding Author: Phone/fax: +62 274 902170, email: abudiman@ugm.ac.id
Global reserves of fossil fuels, namely coal, natural gas
and crude oil in 2018 are respectively 1,139 billion tons,
187 trillion m
3
and 1,707 billion barrels and are expected
to be consecutively finished in 2169, 2068, 2066 (BP.
Energy Outlook, 2018). Therefore, challenges in fulfilling
energy demand and in the reductions of emission are to be
answered immediately by providing sustainable energy
sources, able to change market, political and social
conditions (Pradana et al., 2018a).
Biomass is a sustainable energy source, where their
availability in nature is abundant and it has renewable
characteristic (Anggorowati et al., 2017; Pradana et al.,
2018b). Other advantages of biomass may include: a) fairly
fast CO2 cycle; b) very low sulphur content; and c)
Research Article