Lipid yields of algae dried in an enhanced solar chimney

• Main Authors: L O Morris, Emma Suali, Chu Chi Ming
• Format: Proceedings
• Language: English; English
• Published: IOP Publishing
• Subjects: TP315-360 Fuel
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32513/2/Lipid%20yields%20of%20algae%20dried%20in%20an%20enhanced%20solar%20chimney.ABSTRCT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32513/1/Lipid%20yields%20of%20algae%20dried%20in%20an%20enhanced%20solar%20chimney.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/32513/; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355834310_Lipid_yields_of_algae_dried_in_an_enhanced_solar_chimney
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sabah

This work focuses on the lipid yield of algae dried using an enhanced solar chimney dryer with the aim towards high quality biodiesel production and low energy consumption. Jaworski’s medium was chosen for the cultivation in this research project as it can provide enough nutrients to green algae of type Chlorella. Sp. Centrifugation is an effective method to harvest the algae from its medium prior to a drying process. In this project, the methods used for drying were oven drying, open-sun drying and an enhanced solar chimney drying. The moisture content was determined where the average moisture content were 82.5% for oven drying method, 81.6% for open sun drying and 82.2% for solar chimney drying. Methods were found to affect differently the algae properties in terms of the lipid yield and mineral content. The lipid yields were 23.7%, for oven drying, 20.6% for open sun drying and 24.4% for enhanced solar chimney drying. While the oven drying was found to be the fastest way to dry the algae, the solar chimney drying proved best in energy saving while producing the same amount or more algae lipid within reasonable drying times.