Biodiesel from green alga Scenedesmus acuminatus

摘要

Renewable fuels for alternative energy sources have been paid a great attention in recent years. Biodiesel has been gaining worldwide popularity as an alternative energy source. The production of biofuels from microalgae, especially biodiesel, has gained huge popularity in the recent years, and it is assumed that, due to its eco-friendly and renewable nature, it can replace the need of fossil fuels. Scenedesmus genus was discussed by phycologists as promising microalgae for biofuel production based on its biomass and fatty acid productivity. In the present study, S. acuminatus was cultivated in piggery wastewater effluent to couple waste treatment with biodiesel production. The batch feeding operation by replacing 10% of algae culture with piggery wastewater effluent every day could provide a stable net biomass productivity of 3.24 g L~(-1) day~(-1). The effect of acid hydrolysis of lipids from S. acuminatus on FAME (fatty acid methyl esters) production was investigated. Direct transesterification (a one-stage process) of the as harvested S. acuminatus biomass resulted in a higher bio-diesel yield content than that in a two-stage process. This study results revealed that it is feasible to produce biodiesel from wet microalgae biomass directly without the steps of drying and lipid extraction.