Production and Characterization of Duckweed Bio-Oil via Pyrolysis: A Renewable Alternative to Fossil Fuels

Duckweed bio-oil has gained significant interest due to its exceptional benefits in raw material utilization and eco-friendliness. Research on microalgae cultivation and pyrolysis production lines is vital to enhancing the efficiency of duckweed biomass consumption for renewable energy. In this work, the pyrolysis process was applied to create bio-oil from duckweed. A fixed-bed reactor was connected to condensers, with heat delivered via a gas burner, and a thermocouple used to measure the reactor’s temperature. A stopwatch was used to track the elapsed time until the last drop of product was visible from the system. The results show that both duckweed oils are heavy oils, with an API gravity of 8.73, densities of 1.079 g/cm³ and 1.006 g/cm³, high viscosities of 8.24 mm²/s and 9.32 mm²/s, respectively, a specific gravity of 1.01, a high flash point of 96 °C, and a pour point of 16 °C. The research confirms that duckweed biomass can be pyrolyzed to produce bio-oil. GC/MS analysis was conducted on the generated bio-oil, revealing the presence of multiple polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Consequently, carbon chain elements (C8-C28) are present in duckweed bio-oils. According to the findings, duckweed-derived bio-oil shows great promise as a fossil fuel alternative. This study suggests that, since microalgae have the potential to be a viable replacement for fossil fuels, efforts should be made to scale up microalgae production from the laboratory to industrial levels.