Abstract
Microalgae has gained immense interests as the raw material for biofuel production. The lipid content in microalgae can be converted into biodiesel through conventional method which involves separated process of extraction and transesterification. In this study, the production of biodiesel from Spirulina sp. was performed through one-step extraction-transesterification using KOH as base catalyst to simplify the production of biodiesel. The mixture of methanol-hexane was employed as both solvent and reactant in the process. The resulting biodiesel was found to be mainly composed of methyl oleate and methyl palmitate. On the other hand, increasing the reaction temperature and reducing the quantity of methanol in solvent mixture would also increase the yield of biodiesel. The optimum methanol-hexane volumetric ratio and temperature which gave the highest biodiesel yield were 3:7 and 50°C, respectively.
Highlights
The proliferating growth of population followed by the rapid development of technology has resulted in an increase in energy demand from industrial sector, transportation, to household [1]
The process employed in this study reduces the number of steps in the preparation of biodiesel in the conventional method, that is by removing the extraction step and that the extracted oil is in direct contact with the alcohol
The determination of fatty acid present in biodiesel derived from Spirulina sp. is a very important parameter to determine since it can define the properties of biodiesel such as molecular weight and cetane number (CN)
Summary
The proliferating growth of population followed by the rapid development of technology has resulted in an increase in energy demand from industrial sector, transportation, to household [1]. One of the alternative renewable energy sources is derived from biomass or commonly referred to as biofuel [5] Agricultural products such as corn, soybeans, and cassava can be used to produce biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel. Microalgae is one of the most potent raw materials for biofuel development [7] These unicellular species contain fat, carbohydrates, proteins and other compounds that can be utilized to produce biodiesel through extraction and transesterification processes [8]. Microalgae have several advantages over other biomasses such as higher photosynthetic efficiency, higher biomass production and rapid growth, high lipid content, and do not require large areas to breed [9]. The production of biodiesel using this process will simplify the biodiesel manufacturing process and reduces the manufacturing cost [18]
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