Fatty Acid Compositions of Solvent Extracted Lipids from Two Microalgae

Document Number: 2009-01-3236

Date Published: November 2009

Author(s):
James Barker - Univ. of Washington
Ann Mescher PhD - Univ. of Washington
John Kramlich PhD - Univ. of Washington

Abstract:
Oil extracted from microalgae has the potential to offset demand for petroleum, if conditions of cost and scale can be met. In this paper, we present the compositional differences of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) obtained by solvent extraction from two different oleaginous microalgae. Oil samples were extracted from a proprietary alga (Alga X) and a more common Nannochloropsis oculata (NC) using the Soxhlet process with n-hexane. The neutral lipids contained in Alga X comprised approximately 40 to 60% of the algal dry weight, and the oil was mostly converted to methyl esters using a transesterification process. On the other hand, NC produced approximately 25% lipids, but the yield of methyl esters was often less than 1% and subject to high variation. FAMEs were analyzed using gas chromatography and the average chain lengths for NC were shown to be greater than the average chain lengths for Alga X. These results suggest that the fuel chain length, and hence the fuel properties, can be significantly influenced by the strain of microalgae from which the biofuel is derived.

File Size: 290K
Product Status: In Stock

See other papers presented at SAE 2009 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition, November 2009, Seattle, WA, USA, Session: Environment - Energy (Part 2 of 2)

Purchase more technical papers and save! With TechSelect, you decide what SAE Technical Papers you need, when you need them, and how much you want to pay. Learn more >