Fatty Acid Profiles and Fuel Properties of Oils from Castor Oil Plants Irrigated by Microalga-treated Wastewater

Abstract

thus allowing the re-use of wastewater for the irrigation of plants that produce abundant bio-oils and for the irrigation of low-quality soils. Chlorella vulgaris was grown in Om El-Resh drain water as growth medium, after enrichment with nitrogen and phosphorous. Castor seeds were cultivated in a greenhouse at the Algal Biotechnology Unit, National Research Centre, Egypt. Fifteen days later, transplants were irrigated by untreated wastewater (WW); wastewater treated with microalgae (WW+A); or wastewater treated with microalgae followed by removal of microalgae (WW-A). Oil extraction was performed by seed warming and grinding with n-hexane, followed by soaking, filtration, and passage through Silica gel 60. Esterification was performed, and then fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were determined. The results indicated that the wastewater treatment markedly affected seed oil content. The WW+A treatment led to the highest seed oil yield (41.8%), followed WW-A treatment (28.14%), and the WW treatment (25.12%). FAME analysis indicated that the presented fatty acids of castor oil were C16 and C18 and ricinoleic acid (C18:1) was the most abundant (83.1 to 84.63%). In spite of the higher seed oil content when plants were grown in WW+A, there were differences in the fuel proprieties of seed oils in the different groups, based on American Society for Testing and Materials criteria. Our results suggest that wastewater can be successfully used for irrigation of soils that have poor fertility to produce bio-oils during land reclamation.

Integrated management of K -additives to improve the productivity of zucchini plants grown on a poor fertile sandy soil

“…3 (2021) the third hypothesis. In this concern, algal extract foliar applications is recommended for inducing plant growth under drastic stress conditions (Abdel-Maguid et al, 2004;2005;Shabaan et al, 2010;Tarraf et al, 2015;Enan et al, 2016;El-Sayed et al, 2018b;Anter andReda et al, 2020) which may exists in sandy soils subjected to prolong irrigations.…”

Evaluation of halophilic microalgae isolated from Rabigh Red Sea coastal area for biodiesel production: Screening and biochemical studies

“…Dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method was used to estimate the reducing sugars using glucose as a standard ( Miller, 1959 ). Lipid extraction was performed by Soxhlet extraction using n -hexane as a solvent ( Reda et al, 2020 ). Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were prepared and analyzed according to the modified method of Christie (1993) as describe previously ( Almarashi et al, 2020 ).…”

Utilization of Microalgae for Urban Wastewater Treatment and Valorization of Treated Wastewater and Biomass for Biofertilizer Applications

“…It was reported that increasing the microalgal biomass in urban wastewater might effectively lower the salinity because increased soil salinity and total dissolved solids (TDS) in UW could cause soil to become sodic [130]. As a result, UW that has undergone microalgal treatment is appropriate for fertigation or irrigation applications [131][132][133]. Even though the nutrient levels are reduced and the salinity is decreased, before being used for fertigation or irrigation after microalgal treatment, the presence of bacterial species, such as E. coli, intestinal nematodes, certain antibiotic-resistant bacteria, antibiotic-resistant genetic material, and several organic and toxic pharmaceutical compounds, may need to be maintained as per the prescribed regulation standards.…”