Extraction Technique For Lipid From Microalgae For Biodiesel

• Main Author: Siti Humairah Mohd. Aris, Siti Humairah
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2010
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1346/1/Siti_Humairah_8280.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1346/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

A study on the technique of lipid extraction from microalgae for the biodiesel production is performed, in which the author has narrowed down the research to the microalgae cultivation method, harvesting technique, lipid extraction of microalgae and also transesterification. At the early stage of the research, the author has batchcultivated the Nannochloropsis sp and Chlorella sp to conduct the growth evaluation by using the cell count method. The microalgae are then harvested by centrifugal separation. The project work continued with the sample collection of the mixedculture of microalgae from the pond for the extraction of lipid. For this project, the author has selected the solvent extraction method continued with the rotary evaporator to extract the lipid from microalgae. The solvent systems used for the extraction are n-hexane, methanol and the mixture of chloroform/methanol. The result from the extraction has shown that methanol is the best solvent to extract lipid from the mixed-culture of microalgae. The selection of this technique is made based on the ease of application and low cost consumption. Transesterification is also performed in order to convert the oil which is in the form of lipid to methyl ester. The alkali catalyzed process is applied in transeterification which is by using sodium hydroxide. Lastly, the pH measurement of the esterified product is conducted and analysis by using Thin Layer Chromatography is performed.