Integração de processos para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de bio-oxicombustão em indústrias de alimentos

Abstract

The development of alternative technologies for mitigation of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been the focus of many scientific research, with emphasis on the economy and sustainability of production processes. Oxycombustion is considered a promising strategy for this purpose, however it has some limitations, which can be circumvented with the application of microalgal photobioreactors. This technological route proposes improve the thermal efficiency of combustion equipment with the simultaneous use of the formed compounds, through the bio-oxycombustion technique. In this sense, the aims of this work were: (i) build an oxycombustion furnace integrated with a photobioreactor; (ii) establishing the photosynthetic quotient of photobioreactor; (iii) characterize the volatile fraction of photobioreactor; and (iv) evaluated the thermal performance of the oxycombustion furnace. The results demonstrated that through of enhancement of photobioreactor exhaust gases, a significant gain in the thermal efficiency of the system was achieved, with heating rates of 30.5% and 45.8% superior to use of atmospheric air and the simulated industrial gas stream, respectively. Regarding the composition of photobioreactor exhaust gases, was possible generated about 40% of oxygen that was used as oxidizer. In this context, was demonstrate that the integration these processes is highly potential for biological carbon capture and utilization, besides substantially improving the energyefficiency for industrial combustion systems.