Microalgae-based Oil for Biodiesel Production

Authors: Marc Veillette, Mostafa Chamoumi, Nathalie Faucheux, Michèle Heitz

Abstract:

Biodiesel is traditionally produced from oleaginous plants. On the other hand, increasing biodiesel production from these raw materials could create problems of food supply. Producing biodiesel from microalgae could help to overcome this difficulty, because microalgae are rich in lipids and do not compete for arable lands. However, no studies had compared vegetable and microalgae oil-based biodiesel in terms of yield, viscosity and heat of combustion. In the present study, commercial canola and microalgae oil were therefore transesterified with methanol under a homogenous alkali catalyst (potassium hydroxide) at 100oC for 1h. The result showed that microalgae-based oil has a higher yield in biodiesel with 89.7% (g biodiesel/g oil) and a lower kinematic viscosity (22oC) of 4.31 mm/s2 than canola oil.

Keywords: Biodiesel, microalgae, canola, alkalitransesterification

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1334668

References:

[1] International Energy Agency, "Worldwide trends in energy use and efficiency," 2008, http://www.env-edu.gr/Documents/Worldwide %20Trends%20in%20Energy%20Use%20and%20Efficiency.pdf.
[2] International Energy Agency, "World Energy outlook 2008," OECD/IEA, 2008, http://www.iea.org/textbase/nppdf/free/2008/ weo2008.pdf.
[3] U.S. Census Bureau, "International data base: Total midyear population for the world: 1950-2050," 2011, http://www.census.gov/population/ international/data/idb/worldpoptotal.php
[4] BP, "BP Statistical Review of World Energy," 2011, http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english /reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2011/STAGING/lo cal_assets/pdf/statistical_review_of_world_energy_full_report_2011.pdf
[5] Banerjee, N., "U.S. to reduce oil imports by a third by 2021, Obama says." Los Angeles Times, 2011, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/ mar/31/nation/la-na-obama-energy-20110331/2
[6] D. Tilman, J. Hill and C. Lehman, "Carbon-negative biofuels from lowinput high-diversity grassland biomass," Science, vol. 314, pp. 1598- 1600, 2006.
[7] X. Zhou, B. Xiao, R. M. Ochieng and J. Yang, "Utilization of carbonnegative biofuels from low-input high-diversity grassland biomass for energy in China," vol. 13, pp. 479-485, 2009.
[8] D. de Oliveira, M. Di Luccio, C. Faccio, C. Dalla Rosa, J. P. Bender, N. Lipke, C. Amroginski, C. Dariva and J. V. de Oliveira, "Optimization of alkaline transesterification of soybean oil and castor oil for biodiesel production," App. Biochem. Biotechnol., vol. 122, pp. 553-560, 2005.
[9] M. B. Dantas, A. A. F. Almeida, M. M. Conceição, V. J. Fernandes Jr, I. M. G. Santos, F. C. Silva, L. E. B. Soledade and A. G. Souza, "Characterization and kinetic compensation effect of corn biodiesel," J. Therm. Anal. Cal., vol. 87, pp. 847-851, 2007.
[10] L. Gao, G. Teng, G. Xiao and R. Wei, "Biodiesel from palm oil via loading KF/Ca-Al hydrotalcite catalyst," Biomass Bioenergy, vol. 34, pp. 1283-1288, 2010.
[11] C. Ngamcharussrivichai, P. Totarat and K. Bunyakiat, "Ca and Zn mixed oxide as a heterogeneous base catalyst for transesterification of palm kernel oil," vol. 341, pp. 77-85, 2008.
[12] H. Zeng, Z. Feng, X. Deng and Y. Li, "Activation of Mg-Al hydrotalcite catalysts for transesterification of rape oil," Fuel, vol. 87, pp. 3071-3076, 2008.
[13] M. C. G. Albuquerque, I. Jiménez-Urbistondo, J. Santamar├¡a-Gonz├ílez, J. M. Mérida-Robles, R. Moreno-Tost, E. Rodr├¡guez-Castell├│n, A. Jiménez-L├│pez, D. C. S. Azevedo, C. L. Cavalcante Jr. and P. Maireles- Torres, "CaO supported on mesoporous silicas as basic catalysts for transesterification reactions," vol. 334, pp. 35-43, 2008.
[14] A. F. Zanette, R. A. Barella, S. B. C. Pergher, H. Treichel, D. Oliveira, M. A. Mazutti, E. A. Silva and J. V. Oliveira, "Screening, optimization and kinetics of Jatropha curcas oil transesterification with heterogeneous catalysts," Renewable Energy, vol. 36, pp. 726-731, 2011.
[15] Q. Shu, Z. Nawaz, J. Gao, Y. Liao, Q. Zhang, D. Wang and J. Wang, "Synthesis of biodiesel from a model waste oil feedstock using a carbonbased solid acid catalyst: Reaction and separation," Bioresour. Technol., vol. 101, pp. 5374-5384, 2010.
[16] United States Environmental Protection Agency, "A comprehensive analysis of biodiesel impacts on exhaust emissions," 2002, www.biodiesel.org/.../20021001_gen-323.pdf.
[17] J. Sheehan, T. Dunahay, J. Benemann and P. Roessler, "A look back at the U.S. Department of Energy's aquatic species programÔÇöbiodiesel from algae," U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fuels Development, 1998, http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf.
[18] J. Goldemberg and P. Guardabassi, "Are biofuels a feasible option?" Energy Policy, vol. 37, pp. 10-14, 2009.
[19] Y. Chisti , "Biodiesel from microalgae," Biotechnol. Adv., vol. 25, pp. 294-306, 2007.
[20] X. Deng, Y. Li and X. Fei, "Microalgae: A promising feedstock for biodiesel," Afr. J. Microbiol. Res., vol. 3, pp. 1008-1014, 2009.
[21] S. L. Dmytryshyn, A. K. Dalai, S. T. Chaudhari, H. K. Mishra and M. J. Reaney, "Synthesis and characterization of vegetable oil derived esters: Evaluation for their diesel additive properties," Bioresour. Technol., vol. 92, pp. 55-64, 2004.
[22] M. Veillette, A. Giroir-Fendler, N. Faucheux and M. Heitz "Biodiesel production from microalgae," in Proc. 2011 Ravage of the Planet III, Selangor, Malaisie, 2011, pp. 1-9.
[23] E. A. Ehimen, Z. F. Sun and C. G. Carrington, "Variables affecting the in situ transesterification of microalgae lipids," Fuel, vol. 89, pp. 677- 684, 2010.
[24] M. Lísa, F. Lynen, M. Holčapek and P. Sandra, "Quantitation of triacylglycerols from plant oils using charged aerosol detection with gradient compensation," vol. 1176, pp. 135-142, 2007.
[25] S. A. Basha, K. R. Gopal and S. Jebaraj, "A review on biodiesel production, combustion, emissions and performance," vol. 13, pp. 1628- 1634, 2009.
[26] U. Rashid and F. Anwar, "Production of biodiesel through optimized alkaline-catalyzed transesterification of rapeseed oil," Fuel, vol. 87, pp. 265-273, 2008.
[27] Y. Chen and A. J. Pearlstein, "Viscosity-temperature correlation for glycerol-water solutions," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., vol. 26, pp. 1670-1672, 1987.
[28] M. Veillette, M. Chamoumi, J. Nikiema, N. Faucheux and M. Heitz, "Production of biodiesel from microalgae," in Chemical Engineering, Accepted on 02/09/11, Z. Mawaz & S. Naveed, Ed. Rijeka, Croatia: Intech, 2012, pp. 1-24.
[29] C. R. Smith Jr, J. W. Hagemann and I. A. Wolff, "The occurence of 6,9,12,15-Octadecatetraenoic in Echium plantagineum seed oil," J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., vol. 41, pp. 290-291, 1964.
[30] G. Knothe and K. R. Steidley, "Kinematic viscosity of biodiesel fuel components and related compounds. Influence of compound structure and comparison to petrodiesel fuel components," Fuel, vol. 84, pp. 1059- 1065, 2005.
[31] G. R. Stansell, V. M. Gray and S. D. Sym, "Microalgal fatty acid composition: implications for biodiesel quality," J. Appl. Phycol., 2011.
[32] A. Demirbas , "Relationships derived from physical properties of vegetable oil and biodiesel fuels," Fuel, vol. 87, pp. 1743-1748, 2008.
[33] A. Srivastava and R. Prasad, "Triglycerides-based diesel fuels," Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 4, pp. 111-133, 2000.
[34] X. Miao and Q. Wu, "Biodiesel production from heterotrophic microalgal oil," Bioresour. Technol., vol. 97, pp. 841-846, 2006.
[35] B. R. Moser , "Influence of blending canola, palm, soybean and sunflower oil methyl esters on fuel properties of biodiesel," Ener. Fuels, vol. 22, pp. 4301-4306, 2008.
[36] M. J. Ramos, C. M. Fern├índez, A. Casas, L. Rodr├¡guez and ├ü. Pérez, "Influence of fatty acid composition of raw materials on biodiesel properties," Bioresour. Technol., vol. 100, pp. 261-268, 2009.
[37] J. Lee, C. Yoo, S. Jun, C. Ahn and H. Oh, "Comparison of several methods for effective lipid extraction from microalgae," Bioresour. Technol., vol. 101, pp. 575-577, 2010.
[38] M. B. Johnson and Z. Wen, "Production of biodiesel fuel from the microalga Schizochytrium limacinum by direct transesterification of algal biomass," Energy Fuels, vol. 23, pp. 5179-5183, 2009.