Patent ID: 8414664

Claim:
A process for preparing an algae-derived synthetic coal product, said process comprising the steps of: a) providing a starting alga material comprising a mixture of water and of single cellular algae, b) subjecting said starting alga material in a sealed system to hydrothermal carbonization process to produce the algae-derived synthetic coal product wherein essentially no water in the form of vapor or a liquid is lost from the system during the hydrothermal carbonization process and wherein time, pressure and temperature variables of the hydrothermal carbonization process are selected so that any production of carbon dioxide gas produced as a result of the loss of carbon from the stating alga material is minimized; c) filtering the resulting algae-derived synthetic coal product from the water to separate them into said algae-derived coal product and an aqueous filtrate; and d) separately collecting the algae-derived synthetic coal product and the filtrate.