Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising process for converting microalgae into biofuel. HTL has the advantage of processing wet feedstock (no energy demanding drying required) and having better energetic and mass yield than the lipid extraction pathway. The RafBioAlg project (ANR 18-CE43-0009) had the ambitions to improve the HTL pathway in all economic, energetic and environmental aspects, from the microalgae culture to the biofuel upgrading. Its results are discussed and highlight the advantages and need for improvements. Future work and especially the NIAGARA Horizon Europe project are presented.
Delrue et al. (Thu,) studied this question.