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Using Novozym 435 as catalyst, the syntheses of ethyl ferulate (EF) from ferulic acid (4-hydroxy 3-methoxy cinnamic acid) and ethanol, and octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC) from p-methoxycinnamic acid and 2-ethyl hexanol were successfully carried out in this study. A conversion of 87% was obtained within 2 days at 75 degrees C for the synthesis of EF. For the synthesis of OMC at 80 degrees C, 90% conversion can be obtained within 1 day. The use of solvent and high reaction temperature resulted in better conversion for the synthesis of cinnamic acid derivatives. Some cinnamic acid esters could also be obtained with higher conversion and shorter reaction times in comparison to other methods reported in the literature. The enzyme can be reused several times before significant activity loss was observed.

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Recently, several strains of microalgae have been studied as they contain high lipid content capable to be converted to biodiesel. Fresh water microalgae Chlorella vulgaris studied in this research was one of the proof as it contained high triacyl glyceride which made it a potential candidate for biodiesel production. Factors responsible for good growing of microalgae such as CO 2 and nitrogen concentration were investigated. It was found that total lipid content was increased after exposing to media with not enough nitrogen concentration. However, under this nitrogen depletion media, the growth rate was very slow leading to lower lipid productivity. The productivity could be increased by increasing CO 2 concentration. The lipid content was found to be affected by drying temperature during lipid extraction of algal biomass. Drying at very low temperature under vacuum gave the best result but drying at 60 o C slightly decreased the total lipid content.