Investigation of biodiesel production from algae biomass

The goal of work is to investigate the possibility to use algae biomass for biodiesel production. Soxhlet based extraction was used to determine total lipid content of three different algae species: Cladophora, Lemnaceae and Pithophora. Higest number of lipids – 10 mass% was determined in Pithophora algae. 18 kg of dry Pithophora algae biomass was collected. Screw press with electrical heater was used to extract lipids from algae biomass. 0,65 liter of lipids was pressed out. Next part of work was to perform the reaction of Pithophora lipids transesterification by using different alcohols (methanol, ethanol and butanol) and evaluate the physico-chemical properties of derived metyl, ethyl and butyl esters. Results were compared with LST EN 14214 biodiesel standart requirements. All esters satisfy density requirement, only methyl ester meet the lower viscosity requirement of 5,0 mm²/s. None of the esters meet oxidation stability requirement. Ethyl and butyl esters can be used alone during the summer, the cold filter plugging point for these esters was below -5ºC. Methyl esters contains the highest heat of combusion value 40,06 MJ/kg. For ethyl and butyl esters the heat of combustion value was 38,46 and 38, 32 MJ/kg respectively