Novel power generation from microalgae: Application of different gasification technologies

Energy harvesting from microalgae based on integrated gasification and combined cycle is proposed and evaluated. Two gasification technologies, i.e. conventional thermal gasification and supercritical water gasification, are employed to convert microalgae to syngas. Supercritical water gasification has advantages on bypassing drying, however the energy to elevate the water to supercritical condition is relatively high. Each model was built on the concept of enhanced process integration technology consisting of exergy recovery and conventional process integration in order to minimize the total exergy destruction throughout the whole integrated processes. High energy efficiency of each integrated processes could be achieved, 57% for supercritical water gasification and 42% for conventional gasification.