Investigation on algae oil extraction from algae Spirogyra by Soxhlet extraction method

Abstract

Abstract The demand for energy is growing tremendously due to the modernization in every aspect of life, hence in order to meet the demands without any lag in the growth and development of the world, an alternative source of energy needs to be found. The best alternative would be biofuels which are extracted from organic compounds. Out of many different organic sources available, algae are one among them, which can be used to extract biofuel. Algae are aquatic organisms which are found in all types of water bodies. Also, algae are plentily available and can be easily cultivated, to be considered as one of the potential raw material for production of biodiesel in large scale. In this present research, an experimental setup was fabricated to produce the algae oil. The algae species used for this investigation was Spirogyra sp. Solvent extraction method was used to produce algae oil. The Soxhlet apparatus was used to carry out the solvent extraction process. The solvent type used for the present study was n-hexane, which is an organic non-polar solvent suitable for extracting lipid content from the biomass. From the experiment, it was found that the oil extraction from 100% dried algae and finer size of algae resulted in higher percentage of oil extraction. For algae of mass 50 g, the oil yielded was around 83% for solid to solvent ratio of 1:5, particle size of 0.322 μm, and reaction time was of 3 h. Also, the oil extracted from the algae is characterized to identify its suitability for using it as an alternative fuel in the IC engines. The characterization revealed that, the physiochemical properties were in permissible range in comparison with the standard diesel.