Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
680638 | Bioresource Technology | 2014 | 38 Pages |
Abstract
Saponifiable lipids (SLs) were extracted with hexane from wet biomass (86 wt% water) of the microalga Nannochloropsis gaditana in order to transform them into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs, biodiesel). The influence of homogenization pressure on SL extraction yield at low temperature (20-22 °C) was studied. Homogenization at 1700 bar tripled the SL extraction yield. Two biomass batches with similar total lipid content but different lipidic compositions were used. Batch 1 contained fewer SLs (12.0 wt%) and neutral saponifiable lipids (NSLs, 7.9 wt%) than batch 2 (21.6 and 17.2 wt%, respectively). For this reason, and due to the selectivity of hexane toward NSLs, high SL yield (69.1 wt%) and purity (71.0 wt%) were obtained from batch 2. Moreover, this extract contains a small percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (16.9 wt%), thereby improving the biodiesel quality. Finally, up to 97.0% of extracted SLs were transformed to FAMEs by acid catalyzed transesterification.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Process Chemistry and Technology
Authors
MarÃa J. Jiménez Callejón, Alfonso Robles Medina, MarÃa D. MacÃas Sánchez, Estrella Hita Peña, Luis Esteban Cerdán, Pedro A. González Moreno, Emilio Molina Grima,