PFI:AIR - TT: Design, development, and demonstration of a pilot-scale mobile Flash Hydrolyzer for algae processing

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This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on developing a pilot-scale mobile Flash Hydrolyzer (FH) unit to rapidly and economically harvest products made from microalgae. Microalgae have been on the forefront as an alternative feedstock to produce liquid transportation fuels, bioproducts, and for wastewater treatment for nutrients recovery. The FH technology provides a more economical way to harvest these products, which are sustainable substitutes for petroleum-based fuels and chemicals. The project will result in a novel mobile algae slurry processing Flash Hydrolysis unit which will be used for following demonstration purposes: (i) On-site algae processing at commercial algae cultivation facilities; (ii) Recovery of bioproducts and nutrients at algae bloom sites; (iii) Processing algae from the tertiary treatment of wastewater effluents; and (iv) Integration into a municipal solid waste processing facility. The mobile unit will be unique with respect to its ability for rapid heating of algae slurry and the design of a high-pressure plug flow reactor with short (and tunable) residence times resulting in substantial cost savings due to compact reactor size and equipment footprint among hydrothermal reactors. The project addresses the knowledge gap in the area of rapid heating of biomass components in subcritical water/hydrothermal media and the engineering challenges of algae slurry feeding at high pressure and process scale-up. The successful demonstration of such a system will encourage the stakeholders (including industry) to adopt this novel technology in a rapidly growing Bio-economy.The project team consists of graduate students and interdisciplinary undergraduate students who will gain experience in project-based learning and process design, as well as an opportunity to interact with numerous stakeholders. This project platform will help engage student participants in talking to potential customers, partners and competitors, and entrepreneurial opportunities that follow successful academic research. A summer biofuel research apprenticeship program and visits of local high school students to the project site will be used as a tool to engage K-12 students.