Biodiesel production from sargassumspa sri lankan marine flora and optimization of conditions for yield enhancement

Abstract

Biodiesel production from natural resources has drawn global attention due to its cost effectiveness, eco friendliness and sustainability compared to the conventional fossil fuels. This work was aimed to select the best marine flora available in the Northern Sri Lankan sea to produce biodiesel and to optimize the conditions to produce higher yield. Five species of macro flora such as Sargassum sp, Ulva fasiata, Turbinaria ornata, Gellidium sp, Thallasia sp were collected from the coastal area of the Jaffna peninsula and washed thoroughly with water(mixed with NaOH) and dried under direct sun light. The organic solvents used to extract oil from marine plant species were n-Hexane and Di-ethyl Ether, while alkaline catalysts were used to convert the extracted oil into biodiesel via trans-esterification reaction. Higher oil quantity was obtained from Sargassum sp compared to other marine macro floral species, and it was selected for further studies. Optimum conditions for biodiesel production were identified as molar ratio of methanol to algae (4:1), catalyst amount in the reaction mixture (0.6%), reaction temperature (60oC) and reaction time (25minutes). When the optimum conditions were provided, the percentage of biodiesel production was significantly increased by 11.7-fold than the non-optimized conditions from Sargassum sp. Therefore, optimization of conditions during trans-esterification, significantly increased the biodiesel production from Sargassum sp.