Fuel Property of Biodiesel Made from Microalgae (Chlorella Sp.)

Abstract

Microalgae chlorella is an organism capable of photosynthesis that is less than 2mm in diameter. The biodiesel extracted from algae using chloroform/methanol extraction solvent system then undergone three different transesterification processes based on three different catalysts viz. Alkali catalyst, Acid catalyst and Enzymatic catalyst with two temperature (50°C and 60 °C) and with 1:5 methanol to bio-oil ratio. After transesterification using different catalysts, the fuel properties were measured. All the properties were compared with standard value of ASTM D 6751 standards. Alkali catalyst yield highest biodiesel (92 %) at 60 °C temperature. Also, the closest value of different fuel properties found at par with standard value of ASTM D 6751 standards viz. moisture content, carbon residue, calorific value, specific gravity, acid value, flash point, viscosity, density, viscosity were found to be 0.01%, 0.04%, 40.41 MJ/kg, 0.83, 0.23 mg KOH/g, 143.67 °C, 5.16 mm2/s, 0.83 g/cm3 respectively in the biodiesel which was yield by transesterification done using Alkali catalyst (0.56 % NaOH) at 60 °C temperature.