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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.5, 33-35
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
33
A Letter Open Access
Biodiesel Fuel Production from Marine Microalgae
Isochrysis galbana
,
Pavlova lutheri
,
Dunaliella salina
and Measurement of its Viscosity and
Density
T. Sujin Jeba Kumar , C.K. Balavigneswaran , K.P. Srinivasakumar
Inbiotics, Parvathipuram, Nagercoil-629003, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India
Corresponding author email: balaa02@gmail.com;
Authors
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.5 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0005
Received: 24 Dec., 2012
Accepted: 21 Jan., 2013
Published: 24 Jan., 2013
Copyright:
©
2013 Kumar et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Kumar et al., 2013, Biodiesel Fuel Production from Marine Microalgae
Isochrysis galbana
,
Pavlova lutheri
,
Dunaliella salina
and Measurement of its Viscosity
and Density, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.5 33
-
35 (doi: 10.5376/ijms. 2013.03.0005)
Abstract
Biodiesel is a fuel derives from transesterification of fats and oils. It is renewable and non-toxic ecofriendly fuel with less
CO
2
and NO
2
emissions. Microalgae are known to contain more lipid content than macroalgae and most other oil crops. In this study,
we extracted biodiesel from three microalgae
Isochrysis galbana
,
Pavlova lutheri
,
Dunaliella salina
and also measured the density and
viscosity of biofuel obtained from these microalgae.
Pavlova lutheri
yielded more oil than the other two algae with biomass left over
Dunaliella salina
was more. The density of biodiesel obtained from these microalgae was between 0.86 g/cm
3
and 0.90 g/cm
3
with
viscosity in the range 3.92 mm
2
/sec to 4.5 mm
2
/sec showing high density than the other oils.
Keywords
Marine microalgae; Biofuel; Transesterification; Viscosity; Density
Introduction
The demand for energy is increasing continuously,
because of increases in industrialization and
population. The basic sources of this energy are
derived petroleum, natural gas, coal, hydro and
nuclear powers (Kulkurni, 2006). Biomass is one of
the better sources of energy (Kulkurni, 2006).
Large-scale utilization of biomass energy could
contribute to sustainable development on several
fronts, environmentally, socially and economic
(Turkenburg, 2000). Biodiesel is one of such
alternative fuel, which is obtained by the
transesterification of triglyceride oil with monohydric
alcohols. It has been well-reported that biodiesel
obtained from canola and soybean, palm, sunflower
oil, algal oil as a diesel fuel alternative (Lang et al.,
2002; Spolaore et al., 2006).
Biodiesel is a nontoxic and biodegradable alternative
fuel that is obtained from renewable sources. The
burning of an enormous amount of fossil fuel has
increased the CO
2
level and other greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere, causing global warning. Biomass has
been focused on as an alternative energy source. Since
it is a renewable resources and it fixes CO
2
in the
atmosphere through photosynthesis. Algae produce
7 to 31 time greater oil than palm oil. It is very simple
to extract oil from algae. Microalgae have an efficient
photosynthetic system. Microalgae have much more
oil than macro algae and it is faster and easier to grow
(Shay, 1993). The most significant difference in algal
oil is in the yield and hence its biodiesel yield.
According to some estimates, the yield (per acre) of
oil from algae is over 20
0
× compared with the
best-performing plant/vegetable oil (Sheehan et al.,
1998). Several researches confirm the good
biodegradability of biodiesel fuels in aqueous medium
and soil. This is observed in mixtures of biodiesel and
diesel fuel too (Pasqualino et al., 2006). Biodiesel of
vegetable
origin
seems
to
improve
the
biodegradability more than that from used eatable oils
(Pereira and Mudge, 2004). Biodiesel is produced
through a reaction known as transestrification (Romos
et al., 2009). Generally transesterification can be
catalyzed by base or acid. However, in homogeneous
catalysis, alkali catalysis is a much more rapid process
than acid catalysis (Freedom et al., 1984).
Kinematic viscosity and density are the parameters
required by biodiesel and diesel fuel standards
because of being key fuel properties for diesel engines.
In a diesel engine, the liquid fuel is sprayed into