In Situ Transesterification of Marine Microalgae Biomass via Heterogeneous Acid Catalysis
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In Situ Transesterification of Marine Microalgae Biomass via Heterogeneous Acid Catalysis Savienne M. F. E. Zorn 1 & Cristiano E. R. Reis 1 Messias B. Silva 1 & Heizir F. De Castro 1
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Heitor B. S. Bento 1
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Ana Karine F. de Carvalho 1
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# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Microalgae have been widely considered as a promising alternative to renewable feedstock to biofuel production. Considering the many oleaginous strains of microalgae, this work assessed the potential of two species, Chlorella minutissima and Nannochloropsis gaditana, to be tested as raw material for ethyl esters production of biodiesel value. This work demonstrates an efficient pilot-size photoautotrophic growth of the two strains using 40-L bubble-column photobioreactors, providing lipid productivities of around 15.2 and 8.7 mg L−1 day−1 for C. minutissima and N. gaditana, respectively. The lipid-bearing biomass, which presented fatty acids composition similar to vegetable oils, such as soybean, rich in palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids, was then assayed in direct trans/esterification reactions using ethanol as acyl donor, lipid extracting and solvent for the liquid phase in a pressurized reactor. The reactions, which were catalyzed by a heterogeneous acid catalyst (12-molybdophosphoric acid supported onto aluminum oxide), demonstrated an efficient route for producing a product mixture containing ester contents greater than 96.5 wt%, total conversion of triacylglycerols, and low levels of mono- and diacylglycerols, promoting an ethyl ester mixture with possible integration within the biodiesel market specifications. Keywords FAEE . Chlorella minutissima . Nannochloropsis gaditana . Heteropolyacid . One-step transesterification
Introduction The development of renewable liquid fuels has been intrinsically linked within the last decades to the enhancement on the technologies involving microalgae processing. Microalgae, unlike first-generation feedstock for liquid biofuel production, raise less concern regarding pollution from fertilizers and impacts on land use, with also a lower shift to the fuel side on the food versus energy concerns [1]. While microalgae are considered an interesting platform for the production of valueadded products, including being often renowned as the stateof-art for production of chlorophylls [2], and some antioxidants, as astaxanthin, which are highly targeted in the nutraceutical segment [3], the use of microalgae as a potential feedstock for energy production was the main driver for many successful funding programs worldwide in the last decade. Particularly, lipids derived from microalgae have been widely * Heizir F. De Castro [email protected] 1
Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, Lorena, SP 12602-810, Brazil
considered as adequate raw material for the synthesis of methyl and ethyl esters of biodiesel value [4]. In this sense, the use of microalgae within the production chain of biodiesel may represent not only an additional source of lipids, but rath
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