Production of Biodiesel Fuel From Microalgae Oil Via Supercritical Transesterification Reactions

2012 AIChE Annual Meeting

October 28^th to November 2^nd, Pittsburg, PA

PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL FUEL FROM MICROALGAE OIL VIA SUPERCRITICAL TRANSESTERIFICATION REACTIONS

Jiuxu Liu, Ronghong Lin and Lawrence L. Tavlarides*

Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University,

121 Link Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 315-443-1883; Fax: 315-443-9175

Email: lltavlar@syr.edu (Tavlarides); jliu23@syr.edu(Liu)

Abstract

Commercial biofuel is primarily produced from vegetable oil and animal fat. Occupation of more land for biofuel feedstock cultivation now is harmful to human food resource.  It is important to develop biofuel produced from non-food feedstocks such as microalgae, which potentially offers greatest opportunities in the longer term. Biodiesel synthesis under supercritical conditions provides both energy and economic benefits over the conventional base catalyzed biodiesel production process. In this study, supercritical transesterification of microalgae oil with methanol was investigated at various temperatures (350, 385, and 400 ^oC), pressures (150, 200, and 300 bar), methanol-to-algae oil molar ratios (from 6:1 to 12:1), and residence times (3-12 min) conditions. The conversion of and the composition of the reaction intermediates were determined by GC-FID, free glycerol and bound glycerol fractions in the methyl ester phase were determined by the ASTM method, and the component of microalgae oil and biodiesel made in this study will be analyzed by GC-MSD. The best experimental results for the conversion of triglycerides will be presented. Because of the low excess of methanol used in this study in comparison with similar supercritical transesterification processes (up to 42:1), costs associated with the pumping, preheating, and recovery of the excess methanol will be greatly reduced in commercial applications.