Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

DOI

10.3390/phycology5030032

Publication Title

Phycology

Volume

5

Issue

3

Pages

32 (1-16)

Abstract

High ash content in algal biomass limits its suitability for biofuel production by reducing combustion efficiency and increasing fouling. This study presents a green deashing strategy using nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) and deionized (DI) water to purify Scenedesmus algae, which was selected for its high ash removal potential. The optimized sequential treatment (DI, NTA chelation, and DI+NTA treatment at 90–130 °C) achieved up to 83.07% ash removal, reducing ash content from 15.2% to 3.8%. Elevated temperatures enhanced the removal of calcium, magnesium, and potassium, while heavy metals like lead and copper were reduced below detection limits. CHN analysis confirmed minimal loss of organic content, preserving biochemical integrity. Unlike traditional acid leaching, this method is eco-friendly after three cycles. The approach offers a scalable, sustainable solution to improve algal biomass quality for thermochemical conversion and supports circular bioeconomy goals.

Rights

© 2025 by the authors.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

Data Availability

Article states: "The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author."

ORCID

0000-0002-4802-3717 (Asante), 0000-0003-3173-6101 (Kumar)

Original Publication Citation

Asante, A., Daramola, G., Davis, R. W., & Kumar, S. (2025). Environmentally friendly chelation for enhanced algal biomass deashing. Phycology, 5(3), 1-16, Article 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/phycology5030032

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