Production of Biodiesel from Microalgae

Biodiesel is an eco-friendly alternative diesel fuel prepared from domestic renewable resources i.e. vegetable oils and animal fats. In this process, biodiesel is produced by transesterification of triglycerides present in animal fat or vegetable oils, by displacing glycerine with a low molar mass alcohol using homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis. The resulting ester, after mixing with diesel fuels, has physicochemical properties similar to those of conventional fuels. In this work, the batch process of biodiesel production has been studied using tallow fat as raw material with methanol and a heterogeneous catalyst. The quality of the produced biodiesel was evaluated by the determination of important properties, such as viscosity, flash point, cetane number, oxidation stability, glycerine content, acid value, etc. The produced biodiesel was found to demonstrate fuel properties within the ranges recommended by the ASTM D6751.

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“…9 The biotechnological methods are not independent methods. In fact, they are a mixture of biotechnology and chemistry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiesel Production by Transesterification of Tallow Fat Using Heterogeneous Catalysis

Vafakish

Barari

2017

Kem. Ind.

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“…Both microalgae showed a relatively similar composition to the results found in the literature with methyl oleate as the main FAME component . The fact that no PUF was found is a positive in terms of biodiesel properties because the biodiesel produced would have a higher cetane number and a better resistance to oxidation stability . Moreover, in order to satisfy the European Standards for biodiesel (EN 14214 biodiesel standard for vehicle use), a biodiesel must contain at most 1 mol% of PUF .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Biodiesel is a green source of energy. Blending biodiesel with petrodiesel can help to reduce the use of fossil fuels . Biodiesel can be produced with different substrates including vegetable oils from oleaginous plants, animal fat and microalgae lipids .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A biodiesel production process catalyzed by the leaching of alkaline metal earths in methanol: from a model oil to microalgae lipids

Veillette

Giroir‐Fendler

Faucheux

et al. 2016

J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol.

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BACKGROUND: A response surface methodology was used to study the reaction mechanism of strontium oxide (SrO) as a catalyst for a biodiesel production process using a model oil (composed of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), free fatty acids (FFAs) and triglycerides). The influence of several factors (initial FAME content (0-30 wt%), initial FFAs content (oleic acid 0.20-2.7 wt%), temperature (40-60 ∘ C), methanol to model oil ratio (11-43 wt%), catalyst to model oil ratio (0.5-2.5 wt%) and reaction time (5-30 min)) on the FAME yield, the FAME content, the pH of polar phase and the biodiesel alkalinity was studied.SrO was also compared with potassium hydroxide (KOH) for the conversion of Scenedesmus Obliquus microalgae esterified lipids after a first step of FFAs esterification with sulfuric acid into biodiesel with the following conditions: temperature: 60 ∘ C; reaction time: 22.2 min; catalyst to microalgae ratio: 2.48 wt%; methanol to microalgae lipid ratio: 31.4 wt%. RESULTS:With those operating conditions, KOH was able to reach a slightly higher FAME yield (32.6% g FAME g −1 lipid) than SrO (29.0% g FAME g −1 lipid). Moreover, the results showed a strong relationship between the pH of the polar phase (glycerol-methanol-water) and the FAME yield, which indicates that the reaction using alkaline metal earths is mostly catalyzed by a homogeneous reaction. CONCLUSION: The fact that alkaline metal earths act as homogeneous catalysts make them less suitable for biodiesel production, because they are not inducing neutral pH, and they increase the risk of corrosion.

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“…Boiling point of the biodiesel, its viscosity, as well as its melting point are some of the chemical properties; color, ignition property, odor and lubricity are some of the physical properties that can be used in characterizing the biodiesel [17] Results and discussion:The experimental results obtained from the Soxhlet extraction of crude algal oil for 4hrs is reported in the Table 1. The experimental results obtained (shown Table X) was carried out in the trials with constant sample weight, Soxhlet extraction type, temperature, using cyclohexene as a solvent for 4hours.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Cost Alternative Fuel from Biomass

Zeru

Gebregergis²,

Gebremedhin³

et al. 2015

ILNS

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A major challenge for next decades is development of competitive renewable energy sources, highly needed to compensate fossil fuels reserves and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Among different possibilities, which are currently under investigation, there is the exploitation of unicellular algae for production of biofuels and biodiesel in particular. Microalgae have the ability of accumulating large amount of lipids within their cells which can be exploited as feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The lipid content of different species of microalgae can range from 30%-70% of their dry weight. In this project a microalgae with lipid content of 60.095% was used. This means that 26gms of oil was obtained from 42gms of microalgae sample from which 17.624gm of biodiesel (FAME) was found at the end of transesterification. Algae biofuels avoid some of the previous drawbacks associated with crop-based biofuels as the algae do not compete with food crops. The favorable growing conditions found in many developing countries has led to a great deal of speculation about their potentials for reducing oil imports, stimulating rural economies, and even tackling hunger and poverty. Strong research efforts are however still needed to fulfill this potential and optimize cultivation systems and biomass harvesting.

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Production of Biodiesel from Microalgae

Cited by 28 publications

References 90 publications

Biodiesel Production by Transesterification of Tallow Fat Using Heterogeneous Catalysis

Biodiesel Production by Transesterification of Tallow Fat Using Heterogeneous Catalysis

A biodiesel production process catalyzed by the leaching of alkaline metal earths in methanol: from a model oil to microalgae lipids

Low Cost Alternative Fuel from Biomass

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