Effect of moisture on in situ transesterification of microalgae for biodiesel production. Issue 1 (20th June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sathish, Ashik; Smith, Brian R.; Sims, Ronald C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of chemical technology & biotechnology. Volume 89:Issue 1(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 137
• Page End: 142
• Publication Date: 2013-06-20
• Subjects: Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Technical -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Industries -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; 660
• DOI: 10.1002/jctb.4125
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-2575

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jctb4125-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jctb4125-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p id="jctb4125-para-0001"> <bold>A major hurdle with algal biodiesel production has been the energy required to dry algal biomass prior to lipid extraction and/or conversion. Water interferes with the extraction and/or conversion of algal lipids to biodiesel. The focus of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the <italic>in situ</italic> transesterification method for biodiesel recovery when processing algal biomass with varying amounts of moisture and to evaluate changes in efficiency as <italic>in situ</italic> transesterification reaction parameters were varied</bold>.</p> </sec> <sec id="jctb4125-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p id="jctb4125-para-0002"> <bold>Results indicated that moisture content affected biodiesel recovery. Specifically, algal biomass moisture contents above 20% by mass led to statistically significant reductions in biodiesel recovery. However, increasing the amount of catalyst and/or methanol in the reaction resulted in higher recoveries when using wet algal biomass containing 84% moisture. Using 10% (v/v) sulfuric acid in methanol with the wet biomass to solution ratio of 25 mg (dry mass equivalent) mL<sup>‐1</sup> resulted in the recovery of approximately 81% of the maximum biodiesel yield</bold>.</p> </sec> <sec id="jctb4125-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p id="jctb4125-para-0003"> <bold>This study showed that the presence of moisture at greater than 20% by mass in algal biomass significantly decreased biodiesel recovery when using <italic>in situ</italic> transesterification. Increasing the amount of methanol and/or catalyst in the reaction improved biodiesel recovery from wet algal biomass. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry</bold> </p> </sec> </abstract>