Biodiesel Fuel Production from Algae as Renewable Energy

Abstract

Biodiesel is biodegradable, less CO 2 and NO x emissions. Continuous use of petroleum sourced fuels is now widely recognized as unsustainable because of depleting supplies and the contribution of these fuels to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the environment. Renewable, carbon neutral, transport fuels are necessary for environmental and economic sustainability. Algae have emerged as one of the most promising sources for biodiesel production. It can be inferred that algae grown in CO 2 -enriched air can be converted to oily substances. Such an approach can contribute to solve major problems of air pollution resulting from CO 2 evolution and future crisis due to a shortage of energy sources. This study was undertaken to know the proper transesterification, amount of biodiesel production (ester) and physical properties of biodiesel. In this study we used common species Oedogonium and Spirogyra to compare the amount of biodiesel production. Algal oil and biodiesel (ester) production was higher in Oedogonium than Spirogyra sp. However, biomass (after oil extraction) was higher in Spirogyra than Oedogonium sp. Sediments (glycerine, water and pigments) was higher in Spirogyra than Oedogonium sp. There was no difference of pH between Spirogyra and Oedogonium sp. These results indicate that biodiesel can be produced from both species and Oedogonium is better source than Spirogyra sp.

Effect of Salinity, pH, Light Intensity on Growth and Lipid Production of Microalgae for Bioenergy Application

“…Therefore microalgae feedstock is better option because cultivating algae is easier than other food crops as it does not need any agricultural land and requires less doubling time (Chisti, 2007). It is a carbon neutral fuel, which does not add to total carbon emissions as it absorbs same amount of carbon dioxide during its growth phase (Hossain et al, 2008). Although the production of algae is much better than the other raw materials, but due to low lipid productivity, it is still not commercially viable (Nigam et al, 2011).…”

Transesterification of Nannochloropsis oculata microalga’s lipid to biodiesel on Al2O3 supported CaO and MgO catalysts

“…In addition, Li et al (2007) showed that it was feasible to grow microalgae, C. protothecoides, in a commercial scale bioreactor and also using 75% immobilized lipase, they claimed that 98.15% conversion could be obtained in 12 h when the reaction condition with respect to solvent type, water content, pH was optimized. On the other hand, Hossain et al (2008) studied biodiesel production from algal oils of macroalgae species Oedigonium and Spirogyra using sodium hydroxide as the catalyst and reported that it was possible to produce biodiesel using even low lipid containing macroalgae. Although there are few studies focused on biodiesel production from different algae species using homogeneous catalysts, such as NaOH and sulfuric acid, there are no studies on the biodiesel production from microalgae species using heterogeneous catalysts in the literature.…”

Electrically dewatering microalgae

“…The species used in this study are microalgae. Cultivation of microalgae, a rapidly growing single-celled micro-organism, has also been suggested as a way to address the environmental issues of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) greenhouse gas sequestration, generating renewable fuels, and wastewater remediation [2,3,4]. Alternative energy research is generally viewed as important considering the continuing and increasing per-capita global energy consumption, and the reported diminishing fossil fuel reserves [5,6].…”