Abstract A Large-scale Production of Biodiesel from Microalgae

Ms. Apinya Sankkawanna Mr. Pakit Chokchairat Mr. Chinnarit Thamrongsakulsiri 5110750816 5110755054 5110755344

Biodiesel from microalgae is now widely recognized as sustainable energy because of sufficient supplies. In addition, biodiesel from microalgae does not accumulate carbon dioxide in the environment. The objective of this work is to increase the cultivation volume from 1 liter (Rodrakee and Suksung 2010) to 4.4 liter to investigate the amount of crude oil, its quality and stability obtained from Chlorella sp. strain (supplied by Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, TISTR.). In the experiment, the Chlorella sp. was cultivated in a simple bioreactor set up composed of a 10 liter Duran bottle and a stirrer. This working volume was 4.4 liter and the reactor was run 24 hours a day with illuminated light of 3,480 lux for 12 hours during day time. Two systems were studied: closed and open systems. Three runs of each system were studied. Based on obtained growth curves, microalgal biomass was harvested during the period of slowest growth rate (stationary phase). Those were at 22nd and 25th days from the closed and open systems respectively. The results indicated the similarity trends in growth rates from each system. The amounts of dried algae and crude oil obtained from open system were obviously larger than those obtained from closed system. Finally, the acid value (AV) and percentage free fatty acid (%FFA) of each crude oil sample were analyzed by titration method in order to detect free fatty acid content of the crude oil. As the result, the crude oil extracted from Chlorella sp. strain could be used for production of biodiesel because the results of the AV and %FFA obtained from the experiment were in the acceptable range of AV 0.5 mg KOH/g and %FFA 1 - 1.5 %.

Key words:

biodiesel, biofuel, biomass, Chlorella sp., microalgae