Optimization of the nitrogen and oxygen element distribution in microalgae by ammonia torrefaction pretreatment and subsequent fast pyrolysis process for the production of N-containing chemicals

Abstract In this work, ammonia (NH3) torrefaction pretreatment (ATP) was developed to optimize the nitrogen and oxygen element distribution of microalgae via the N-doping and oxygen removal reaction, which could obviously improve the potential use of microalgae as a feedstock for the production of N-heterocyclic chemicals through fast pyrolysis technology. The nitrogen content increased from 8.3% of raw microalgae to 11.51 % at 300 °C of ATP, while the oxygen content decreased from 35.96% to 21.61 %, because of the Maillard reactions. In addition, the nitrogen-doping ratio and oxygen removal ratio of ATP was much higher than the conventional nitrogen torrefaction pretreatment (NTP). With the increase of ATP torrefaction temperature or the pyrolysis temperature, the relative content of the N-containing compounds increased, while the O-containing compounds decreased. For the N-heterocyclic chemicals, higher pyrolysis temperature favored the formation of pyrroles, while inhibited the formation of pyridines and indoles.