Abstract

This study presents a prospective study for the potential exploitation of pelagic Sargassum spp. as a solid biofuel energy source. It was carried out in three stages. First we conducted a morphological, physical-chemical, and structural characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (DRX), respectively. Second we evaluated the material’s functional properties as a solid biofuel based on its calorific value and the quantification of polymeric components like hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, as well as thermogravimetric and differential analysis to study the kinetics of its pyrolysis and determine parameters like activation energy (Ea), reaction order (n), and the pre-exponential factor (Z). Third we analyzed the energetic potential considering the estimated volume of pelagic Sargassum spp. that was removed from beaches along the Mexican Caribbean coast in recent years. Results of the kinetic study indicate that Sargassum spp. has an enormous potential for use as a complement to other bioenergy sources. Other results show the high potential for exploiting these algae as an energy source due to the huge volumes that have inundated Caribbean, West African, and northern Brazil shorelines in recent years. As a solid biofuel, Sargassum spp. has a potential energy the order of 0.203 gigajoules (GJ)/m3. In the energy matrix of the residential sector in Mexico, its potential use as an energy source is comparable to the national consumption of firewood. The volume of beachcast Sargassum spp. that was removed from ~8 km of coastline around Puerto Morelos, Mexico in 2018–2019, could have generated over 40 terajoules/year of solid biofuel.

Highlights

  • Evidence of contemporary tendencies in the exploitation, production, and use of renewable energy sources have fostered a great interest in processes for diversifying energy generation worldwide to reduce dependence on fossil fuels [1,2,3]

  • The TGA curve is divided into three main zones (I-III) to coincide with the results of various analyses of the pyrolysis of diverse kinds of marine biomass, including Sargassum spp. [41,42,43,44]

  • This study presents an approach to, and a bioenergy perspective on, Sargassum spp. collected from the coasts of the Mexican Caribbean, as a primary-use solid biofuel

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Summary

A Prospective Study of the Exploitation of Pelagic

Luis Bernardo López-Sosa 1 , José Juan Alvarado-Flores 2 , Juan Carlos Corral-Huacuz 1 , Arturo Aguilera-Mandujano 3 , Rosa E. Rodríguez-Martínez 4 , Santiago José Guevara-Martínez 5 , Jorge Víctor Alcaraz-Vera 6 , José Guadalupe Rutiaga-Quiñones 2 , Juan Zárate-Medina 3 , María Liliana Ávalos-Rodríguez 7 and Mario Morales-Máximo 1,2, *. Received: 6 November 2020; Accepted: 25 November 2020; Published: 4 December 2020

Introduction
Methods
Results and Discussion
X-rayand
SEM analysis: energy-dispervise X-ray
Potential for Energy
Conclusions

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