5^th World Bioenergy Congress and Expo

Biography

Biography: Souman Rudra

Abstract

Hydrothermal liquefaction is a promising process for future biofuel production. Complex reactions occurring during the process are not fully discovered, thus accurate simulations are not yet attainable. Several batch experiments have been seen but only a few continuous flow systems. Three different microalgae biomass were analyzed using TGA (Thermogravity analysis), Proximate analysis and Ultimate analysis. Properties from these algae analyses were used in the Aspen Plus simulation model. The Aspen Plus simulation tool was used to model the HTL of three species of algae.

The energy consumption of the main components was considered, and a process optimization was done by implementing a heat exchanger. Without a heat exchanger, a large amount of waste heat was not utilized in the system and it showed poor efficiency for the whole process. Still, there was potential for heat integration and optimization of the system. Water recycling, district heating or other options could be considered.

The efficiency of the system was improved when products in all the streams are utilized. S. platensis and P. tricornutum algae obtained 83 % energy efficiency for the HTL process. Annual production of biocude was 180,000 liters from S. platensis, 211,000 from C. vulgaris and 124,000 from P tricornutum. The outcome of the simulation is mainly determined by the composition of components in the product stream. 

Recent Publications:

1. Souman Rudra, Lasse Rosendahl, Morten B. Blarke. (2015) Process analysis of a biomass-based quad-generation plant for combined power, heat, cooling, and synthetic natural gas production. Energy Conversion and Management 106: 1276–1285
2. Taimur Akter, Souman Rudra (2015). Conceptual model in aspen plus for recovery of biocrude from hydrothermal algal biomass liquefaction
3. J Hoffmann, S Rudra, SS Toor, JB Holm-Nielsen, LA Rosendahl (2013). Conceptual design of an integrated hydrothermal liquefaction and biogas plant for sustainable bioenergy production
4. S. Jones, Y. Zhu, D. Anderson, R. T. Hallen, D. C. Elliott, A. Schmidt, et al., (2014). Process design and economics for the conversion of algal biomass to hydrocarbons: whole algae hydrothermal liquefaction and upgrading.