Extraction of lipids from microalgae biomass obtained from marine Chlorella sp as a source of raw material for biodiesel production

• Grant number: 13/01091-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2013
• End date: January 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Messias Borges Silva
• Grantee: Beatriz Baracat
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The need to find a substitute for fossil fuel has driven the development of new sources of biomass for biofuels. Currently, an alternative source of biomass that is gaining prominence is microalgae, photosynthetic microorganisms capable of capturing atmospheric CO2 and accumulating high levels of lipids in their biomass, making them very attractive as a source of raw material for the synthesis of biodiesel. Thus, this paper will study the effects of two different methods of extraction of lipids, such as Folch and "Bligh and Dyer," the effect of lyophilization step of biomass and the effect of salinity present in biomass, in order to maximize recovery of lipids microalgal biomass for the production of biodiesel. The effects of control parameters will be studied through the statistical Taguchi Method. The experiments use a Taguchi L8 orthogonal array with three factors operating at two levels each performed in triplicate. (AU)