Energy Conversion and Management 151 (2017) 63–72

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Enhanced FAME production using green catalyst with superior profile from MARK
the isolated halophilic Aphanothece halophytica grown in raceway ponds
⁎
L.R. Monisha Miriama, R. Edwin Rajb, , Ajith J. Kingsb, M. Adhi Visvanathanc
a
Department of Biotechnology, Udaya School of Engineering, Vellamodi 629204, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering, Nagercoil 629003, India
c
Pinnacle Biosciences, Algae Research and Development Center, South Thamaraikulam 629708, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The unprecedented use of fossil fuels necessitates the research community to find clean, safe, renewable and
Aphanothece halophytica sustainable energy source. One such promising source is microalgal biofuel, which can mitigate the environ-
Microalgae mental concerns and energy crisis due to its closed carbon cycle. Selection of proper strain and optimization of
Biocatalyst the culture conditions to maximize the lipid productivity is very important for successful economical biodiesel
Transesterification
conversion process. One such robust halophilic species identified was Aphanothece halophytica with rich lipid
Biodiesel
productivity. They were cultivated in different media and optimized on lab scale as well as in large scale using
raceway ponds to produce sufficient biomass for algal oil extraction. The biodiesel conversion process para-
meters were then optimized by multi-variant response surface methodology (RSM). The free fatty acid (FFA)
content of the raw algal oil was only 0.51% which enables direct conversion by transesterification. Eco-friendly,
natural white clam shell was calcinated to obtain CaO, which was recovered and reused for three times effec-
tively. The maximum biodiesel yield of around 99 vol% was obtained for the oil/methanol ratio of 0.32(v/v)
using calcinated CaO for 6 wt% of raw feed while stirring at 400 rpm at a temperature of 70 °C for 85 min. The
GC–MS analysis of the algal biodiesel confirmed the presence of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in ba-
lanced proportion to provide better oxidation stability and good combustion characteristics. Other biodiesel
properties were analyzed and found to be within the standards specified by EN and ASTM for automotive ap-
plication without any engine modification.

1. Introduction
Worldwide concerns have increased over the past two decades due
to negative environmental impacts caused by excessive use of non-re-
newable fossil fuels. Fluctuating fuel price, increased CO2 emission and
stringent emission norms add more constraints for developing countries
like India. The scarcity of fossil fuels can cause huge economic and
social problems in near future for all oil dependent countries [1]. The
International Energy Agency (IEA) has reported an average increase in
annual energy demand rate of 1.8% per year [2,3]. Biodiesel is a non-
petroleum based biofuel that comprises of mono-alkyl esters of long
chain fatty acids derived from renewable lipid feedstocks such as ve-
getable oil, animal fat, waste cooking oil and microalgae [4]. The merits
of biodiesel include its renewability, low sulphur content, availability
and zero global warming potential due to closed carbon cycle [5,6].
Currently biofuels derived from microalgae or cyanobacteria are
oleaginous in nature, which makes it conducive for biodiesel produc-
tion [7–11]. They are photosynthetic microorganisms with high
photosynthetic efficiency, rapid growth rate and higher lipid accumu-
lation capacity [12,13]. Most of the extracted algal oil has high FFA
content, which makes the biodiesel conversion difficult. The microalgae
S. obliquus and C. protothecoides grown in standard medium had high
FFA contents of 33% and 27% respectively where three step ester-
ification process was done before transesterification to achieve more
than 90 vol% biodiesel yields [14]. Hyper saline microalgae cultivated
in standard medium also had higher FFA content, which makes the
conversion process more expensive [15]. Development of high tolerant
strain is essential to utilize the available water sources and to trap the
sunlight for higher growth and productivity by using the available
nutrients [16,17]. Industrial production of algal biodiesel is still far
from being commercially viable, even though it is a potentially viable
source [18,19].
The key step in microalgal biodiesel production includes selection,
cultivation, harvesting, processing, lipid extraction and transester-
ification [20]. The cost-effective mass scale algal biodiesel production is
a challengeable one, and it can be overcome by potential robust

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: redwinraj@gmail.com (R.E. Raj).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.08.071
Received 24 May 2017; Received in revised form 25 August 2017; Accepted 26 August 2017
Available online 07 September 2017
0196-8904/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.