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Comparison of microalgal hydrochar and pyrochar: production, physicochemical properties, and environmental application

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Abstract

Microalgal biomass has been considered the third-generation biofuel production feedstock, but microalgae-derived biochar still needs to be thoroughly understood. This study aims to evaluate the production and physicochemical properties of microalgae-derived hydrochar produced by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process by comparison with pyrochar produced by dry thermal carbonization (DTC) process for environmental applications. Microalgal biochar was produced with commercially available Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using HTC and DTC processes under various temperature conditions. Pyrochar presented higher pH, ash contents, porosity, and surface area than hydrochar. Hydrochar gave more oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface and higher lead adsorption than pyrochar, making the microalgal hydrochar applicable in soil amendment and various environmental remediations. HTC could be an economically feasible thermochemical process for microalgal biochar production. It can produce hydrochar with high production yield from wet microalgae at low temperatures without a drying process.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) through Project to develop eco-friendly new materials and processing technology derived from wildlife, funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) (2021003280005) and partly by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants (2019R1F1A1062675).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Mokpo National University, 1666 Yongsan-Ro, Cheongye-Myeon, Muan-Gun, Jeollanam-Do, 58554, Republic of Korea

    Chaerin Park & Eun Jung Kim

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  1. Chaerin Park
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  2. Eun Jung Kim
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Chaerin Park and Eun Jung Kim. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Chaerin Park, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Eun Jung Kim.

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This manuscript has not been published or presented elsewhere in part or entirety and is not under consideration by another journal. All study participants provided informed consent, and the study design was approved by the appropriate ethics review board.

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Park, C., Kim, E.J. Comparison of microalgal hydrochar and pyrochar: production, physicochemical properties, and environmental application. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 2521–2532 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31317-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31317-7

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