Artificial produced water as a medium to grow Chlorella sp. for biodiesel production

Abstract

Increased interest in renewable, carbon-neutral energy sources makes processing biodiesel from microalgae has become the objective for many researchers and companies. Some kind of wastewater including municipal, industrial and agricultural wastewaters have been identified as alternate growth mediums. Produced water is the largest byproduct of the oil and natural gas extraction process which constitutes of high concentration of pollutants, such as dissolved nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, heavy metal and monocyclic aromatic compound like BTEX. The purpose of this study is to identify Chlorella sp. potential for producing lipid in artificial produced water. Variations made in this study consist of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% volume of artificial produced water to the control Walne medium. The highest specific growth rate and biomass productivity of Chlorella sp. achieved by culture grown in 25% wastewater with a value of 0.225 day−1 and 0.175 g L−1day−1, respectively. The highest lipid yield and productivity in mixed culture of artificial produced water and Walne medium achieved by culture in 25% artificial produced water with value of 0.231 and 40.48 mg.L−1.day−1. C16 and C18 fatty acids which dominated the lipids of Chlorella sp. in all culture variations indicated that the lipid of Chlorella sp. were suitable for producing high quality biodiesel.

Techno-economic analysis of biodiesel and bioethanol production from Chlorella sp. algae biomass

“…algae. This is performed in photobioreactors where factors such as light, temperature, and nutrients are controlled and optimized to promote rapid growth and high lipid production [16], [17]. Following cultivation, the algae are harvested and subjected to a filtering and drying process to separate them from water and reduce their moisture content through oven drying.…”