Research Projects

Microalgae based biofuel has been studied extensively by several researchers. However, there are many challenges and drawbacks which need to be addressed before it becomes commercially acceptable. Key objective of the project is to carry out microalgae biomass production in indigenously designed photobioreactor of 200 L and raceway pond of 2000 L. Considering the requirement of high volume growth medium, low cost media will be optimized towards high value algal biomass production. This project will exploit a two-step approach to produce fractional biofuels directly from wet biomass via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) followed by fractional distillation. This will save the cost of energy required during harvesting and drying of wet biomass. HTL will produce bio-crude which will be further distilled to fractional biofuels such as green gasoline, green ATF and green diesel with properties similar to that of petroleum fractions. The project will also explore the feasibility of residual bottom products towards value added products.