A method for production and characterization of biodiesel from green micro algae

Abstract

Biofuels are one of those renewable fuel sources developed to fuel the transportation sector to replace conventional petroleum based fuels. Due to widespread research and development programs from last two decades, significant progress has been made in the field of biofuels. The first and second generation biofuels are produced from various food crops and plant seed oils. Algae has been identified as a the potential source to produce biofuels, which can replace transportation fuels derived from fossil energy sources due to various advantages than the previous two generation feed stocks. The ability to produce high amounts of oil, efficiency in harvesting solar energy, adaptability to different climatic conditions and capability to produce valuable byproducts makes algae as a potential source for renewable energy source. In the present work the key concentration is directed towards producing renewable biofuels from algal biomass by transesterfication process. Its Characterization study reveals that algal based biodiesel is an alternative source of diesel.