Lipid Extraction from Microalgae Spirulina Platensis for Raw Materials of Biodiesel

Abstract

Biodiesel derived from microalgae has been considered as one of the substitutes for fossil fuels. There are many microalgae with hight lipid content that can use for the raw material of biodiesel. Microalgae Spirulina plantesis in the fast few years has been developed to become biodiesel feedstock, previously this microalga was widely used in food supplements. The purpose of this research is to study the growth of microalgae in lab scale cultivation, to extract lipids by maceration, soxlet, and osmotic methods and analyze the biodiesel obtained from the transesterification process. Cultivation was carried out in laboratorium scale with bright dark lighting conditions (12:12 hours), using Walne medium, pH of 7-10 and salinity of 25-30 ppt. Cell density was observed using a microscope and was calculated using a hemasitometer. From the results of the study at the cultivation stage, it was found that the optimum pH for the growth of microalgae Spirulina Platensis was at pH of 9 and lipids obtained from maceration, osmotic and soclet extraction methods are 5.5%, 0.6%, and 9%. Biodiesel which had the highest calorific value was obtained through extraction using the maceration method with a caloric value of 11200 cal/gram and density 0,875 gram/cc.