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Experimental Protocol for Biodiesel Production with Isolation of Alkenones as Coproducts from Commercial Isochrysis Algal Biomass
Published on: June 24, 2016
Valorization of de-oiled microalgal biomass as a carbon-based heterogeneous catalyst for a sustainable biodiesel
Madonna Roy1, Kaustubha Mohanty2
1School of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India.
Abstract:
In this study, a novel carbon-based solid acid catalyst was synthesized by carbonization of de-oiled microalgal biomass followed by sulfonation. The effect of catalyst synthesis conditions such as carbonization temperature, sulfonation time, and H2SO4 concentration on the surface acidity of the catalyst and free fatty acid conversion was determined. The de-oiled microalgal biomass-based solid acid (DMB) catalyst was predominantly composed of carboxylic, phenolic, and sulfonic groups as indicated by the FTIR analysis and supported by the XPS analysis. The catalyst was further characterized by various methods to determine its physiochemical properties. A maximum fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield of 94.23% for microalgal oil (AO) and 96.25% for waste cooking oil (WCO) was obtained under optimized transesterification conditions. The catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity (FAME yield >90%) until the fourth cycle. Most of the biodiesel properties were within the permissible limit of EN 14,212 and ASTM D6751 standards.
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