SVS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL USING BROWN ALGAE

BY ULTRASONICATION
IV YEAR-PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Under The Guidance Of By

MRS.G.SAROJINI ADARSH V K (72216139002)

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MOHAMMED JAZEEM (722016139024)
DEPARTMENT OF PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING RAHUL S NAMBIAR (722016139037)
THOUFEEK THAHA (722016139051)
 ABSTRACT 2

 Continuous use of petroleum sourced fuels is now widely recognized as unsustainable because of
depleting supplies and the contribution of these fuels to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the
environment.
 Biodiesel serves as a non-toxic and biodegradable alternative fuel, which is obtained by
transesterification of triglyceride oil with monohydride alcohols.
 Ultrasonic techniques have been widely used in biodiesel production, since the acoustic cavitation is a
phenomenon capable of accelerating potentially the transesterification reactions.
 The equipment employed in such approach is simple equipment available in any regular chemistry
laboratory.
 The main advantage is increasing the conversion of esters at reduced reaction times, with significantly
lower production costs.
 The aim of this project is to demonstrate advances of using ultrasonic techniques in production and
characterization of biodiesel, as well as an appraisal of the current technology status, and provide
insights into future developments.
 LITERATURE REVIEW 3
SL TITLE OF THE PAPER AUTHOR NAME YEAR MATERIAL PROCESS REFERENCE
NO
1 Biodiesel Fuel Production A B M Sharif 2008 Algae Transesterification by 1
from Algae as Renewable Hussain, Aishah adding methanol
Energy Salleh, Amru
Nasrulhq Boyce

2 Biodiesel from microalgae Yusuf C 2007 2

3 Commercial applications of Spolaore, P., C. 2006 Microalgae Structural chemical 4

microalgae Joannis-Cassan, E. analysis
Duran and
A. Isambert
4 Genetic-engineering Rosslea P.G., 1992 Micro-algae Lipid biosynthesis 8
approaches for enhanced L.M. Brown,
production of biodiesel fuel T.G. Dunahay,
from microalgae D.A. Heacox, E.E.
Jarvis and J.C.
Schneider
 4
SL TITLE OF THE PAPER AUTHOR YEAR MATERIAL PROCESS REFERENCE
NO NAME
5 Waste cooking oil- an Kulkarni, M G 2006 Waste cooking Microwave 3
economical source for and A K Dalai oil assisted two-step
biodiesel: A review. transesterification
2006 process

6 Evaluate biodiesel made from Rose, P. and M. 2002 Waste fats and Alkali catalyzed 6
waste fats and oils. Norris oils transesterfication.

7 Preparation and Lang, X., A.K. 2002 Various bio oils Transesterfication 5
characterization of biodiesels Dalai, N.N. using koH
from various Bio-Oils. Bakhshi, M.J.
Reaney
and P.B. Hertz
8 Process for Basu, H.N. and 1996 Bio oils PROESA process 7
production of esters for use as a M.E. Norris
diesel fuel
substitute using a non-alkaline
catalyst.
 INTRODUCTION 5

 Biodiesel production has achieved increasing importance worldwide due to the potential depletion
of oil reserves and the environmental impacts caused by gases of fossil fuel.
 Most common route for biodiesel production is the transesterification, which is the reaction
between triglycerides and a short chain alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, producing esters and
glycerol.
 The use of ultrasound in biodiesel production has gained emphasis over the years , since
ultrasound can promote homogenization between the reagents through acoustic cavitation.
 Acoustic cavitation is the growth and violent collapse of cavitation bubbles, which, when
exploded, generate an increase in temperature in the reaction medium. This enables to increase the
speed of the reaction, reduce the amount of catalyst and reduce the reaction time from hours to
minutes.
 Ultrasonication can achieve a biodiesel yield in excess of 99%.
 Not just as a way to accelerate the transesterification, the ultrasound is also being studied as a tool
to monitor the biodiesel reaction.
 WORKPLAN 6
 Collection of brown algae.
 Washing and drying without sunlight.
 A week later, drying in presence of sunlight.
 Crushing into powder form.
 Extracting algae.
 Mixing methanol and performing transesterification using ultrasonic reactor.
 Biodiesel is separated, washed and stored.
 Characteristic study of algae .
 MATERIALS AND METHOD 7
1. Brown algae is collected from algae collection point on different seashores.
2. Algae is dried and grinded into powder form.
3. Hexane and ether solution (20 and 20 mL) are mixed with the dried ground algae to extract oil using
soxhlet extractor . Then the mixture is kept for 24 h for settling.
4. The biomass is collected after filtration and weighed.
5. The extracted oil is evaporated in vaccum to release hexane and ether solutions using rotary evaporator.
6. 0.25 g NaOH is mixed with 24 mL methanol and stirred properly for 20 min.
7. Biodiesel production is done by mixing methanol and performing transesterification using ultrasonic
reactor.
8. Biodiesel is washed by 5% water until it becomes clean.
9. Biodiesel is dried by using dryer and finally kept under the running fan for 12 h.
10. Biodiesel production is measured using measuring cylinder, pH is measured and the biodiesel is stored for
analysis.
11. More algae is collected for characteristic study.
 8
 EQUIPMENTS REQUIRED  CHEMICALS REQUIRED

1. SOXHLET EXTRACTOR 1. HEXANE AND ETHER SOLUTION

2. ULTRASONIC REACTOR 2. NAOH
3. BEAKERS 3. METHANOL
4. CONICAL FLASK
ALGAE COLLECTION POINT 9
KOZHIKODE THIKOODI (KERALA)
 10
COLLECTION OF ALGAE
DRYING OF ALGAE 11
 12
PROJECT OUTCOME
 This project aims to prove that biodiesel can be produced from brown algae though it contains
lower lipid content than microalgae.
 By adopting this way of biodiesel production, algae can be used as renewable energy.
 This work emphasises on the use of ultrasonication to enable increment in the speed of the reaction,
reduction in the amount of catalyst and reduction of the reaction time from hours to minutes
 Though many researchers report that algae might be better for higher biodiesel production, research
has not been done yet in this regard. So the results from this project will highlight this research by
producing biodiesel from brown algae using ultrasonication
 Oil productivity characteristics of brown algae are also studied in this project which will pave way
for more research into the extended scope of algae in other applications as well.
 REFERENCES 13
1. A.B.M. Sharif Hossain, Aishah Salleh, Amru Nasrulhaq Boyce, Partha chowdhury and Mohd Naqiuddin, Biodiesel Fuel Production
from Algae as Renewable Energy, 2008, Biotecnology Laboratory, Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of
Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
2. Yusuf, C., 2007. Biodiesel from microalgae. Biotechnol. Advances, 25: 294-306.
3. Kulkarni, M.G. and A.K. Dalai, 2006. Waste cooking iol-an economical source for biodiesel: A review. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 45:
2901-2913.
4. Spolaore, P., C. Joannis-Cassan, E. Duran and A. Isambert, 2006. Commercial applications of microalgae. J. Biosci. Bioeng., 101:
87-96.
5. Lang, X., A.K. Dalai, N.N. Bakhshi, M.J. Reaney and P.B. Hertz, 2002. Preparation and characterization of biodiesels from various
BioOils. Bioresour. Technol., 80: 53-62.
6. Rose, P. and M. Norris, 2002. Evaluate biodiesel made from waste fats and oils. Final Report, Agricultural Utilization Research
Institute, Crookston, MN, USA.
7. Basu, H.N. and M.E. Norris, 1996. Process for production of esters for use as a diesel fuel substitute using a non-alkaline catalyst.
US Patent No. 5, 525, 126, June 11.
8. Roessler, P.G., L.M. Brown, T.G. Dunahay, D.A. Heacox, E.E. Jarvis and J.C. Schneider, 1994. Genetic-engineering approaches for
enhanced production of biodiesel fuel from microalgae. ACS Symp Ser. 566: 255-270.