Microalgae‐Derived Green Diesel

• Published in: Chemical engineering & technology Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 890 - 897
• Main Authors: Costa, Iago G., Coelho Vargas, José V., Balmant, Wellington, Ramos, Luiz P., Zandoná Filho, Arion, Taher, Dhyogo M., Mariano, André B., Yamamoto, Carlos I., Conceição, Daniele, Kava, Vanessa M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frankfurt Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-05-2022
• Subjects: Alkanes; Calorific value; Cetane number; Diesel fuels; Esterification; Ethanol; Fractional distillation; Gas chromatography; Hexanes; Mass spectrometry; Microalgae‐derived green diesel; Microorganisms; Nuclear fuels; Paraffinic hydrocarbons; Renewable diesel; Tetradesmus obliquus
• ISSN: 0930-7516; 1521-4125
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.202100647

Microorganisms are able to biosynthesize hydrocarbons (HCs), thus, they could become a new matrix for fuels and chemicals. In this work, Tetradesmus obliquus cultivated for 15 days in 12‐m3 photobioreactors produced dry biomass for hot oil extraction by rotary evaporation. Pure hexane and a mixture of hexane and ethanol solvents produced crude oil, followed by fractional distillation to yield non‐esterifiables. Gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry characterized the products obtained with hexane extraction as HCs from C11 to C22, and with hexane + ethanol from C13 to C23, predominantly alkanes that led to a high cetane number. The green diesel lower heating value was nearly the same as that of low sulfur fossil diesel, however, economic and logistic aspects need to be addressed aiming at fossil diesel replacement.
Microalgae can fix carbon dioxide as primary carbon source, and due to high biomass productivity, non‐esterifiable fat synthesis, and storage, they emerge as pure hydrocarbon production beings. A process for microalgae oil extraction is developed followed by pure hydrocarbon fuel production to be qualified as green diesel for possible future replacement of fossil diesel.