Thermal Analysis of Green Algae for Comparing Relationship Between Particle Size and Heat Evolved

Simultaneous thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were applied for the studies of particle size effect in Nostoc. sp.. This microorganism is known as an freshwater microalgae, which can accumulate a large amount of lipid in the cell.  The particle size, which could affect the thermal properties of various composition contained in microorganisms were closely related to heat evolved obtained from the microbial cells during combustion.  A marked difference in heat energy between the different particle size of microbial sample was detected in the temperature range from 310 to 351 ^oC.  The heat evolved from 45 μm-sized particle sample in this temperature range was 3.78+ 0.19 KJ/g which was 1.1- to 1.4-fold greater than those from the other particle size samples.