Efficient algal lipid extraction via photocatalysis and its conversion to biofuel
R. Shwetharani and
R. Geetha Balakrishna
Applied Energy, 2016, vol. 168, issue C, 364-374
Abstract:
Microalgae play an important role in energy production to solve the major energy crisis. The present study demonstrates an efficient and environmental friendly route for bio-oil extraction from wet Nannochloropsis oculata algal biomass through photocatalysis. The method uses abundant solar energy and catalytic amount of titanium dioxide photocatalyst for the rupturing of wet algal cells and reduces most of the cost by avoiding dewatering and drying, for algal oil production. The various spectroscopy and microscopy techniques used show destruction of algal cell membrane by the photocatalyst, with a release of 52.2% lipid yield. The obtained lipid by photocatalysis on esterification yields biofuel which is in complete agreement with results obtained from conventional techniques. Algal oil is converted to biofuel through acid catalyzed transesterification. Bio-oil and biofuel samples were analyzed by ATR-IR, NMR and GCMS. The physicochemical characterization of photocatalyst was carried out by UV–Visible spectroscopy, XRD, EDS, BET and electron microscopy studies. The results suggest that the nanoparticles are efficient catalysts for rupturing the rigid micro algal cell membrane in an aqueous environment, using sunlight and hence prove to be a potential economic method for large scale bio-oil extraction.
Keywords: Microalgae; Nannochloropsis oculata; TiO2; Photocatalysis; Lipid; Transesterification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916300745
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:168:y:2016:i:c:p:364-374
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.01.087
Access Statistics for this article
Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan
More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().