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In Situ Transesterification of Marine Microalgae Biomass via Heterogeneous Acid Catalysis

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Abstract

Microalgae have been widely considered as a promising alternative to renewable feedstock to biofuel production. Considering the many oleaginous strains of microalgae, this work assessed the potential of two species, Chlorella minutissima and Nannochloropsis gaditana, to be tested as raw material for ethyl esters production of biodiesel value. This work demonstrates an efficient pilot-size photoautotrophic growth of the two strains using 40-L bubble-column photobioreactors, providing lipid productivities of around 15.2 and 8.7 mg L−1 day−1 for C. minutissima and N. gaditana, respectively. The lipid-bearing biomass, which presented fatty acids  composition similar to vegetable oils, such as soybean, rich in palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids, was then assayed in direct trans/esterification reactions using ethanol as acyl donor, lipid extracting and solvent for the liquid phase in a pressurized reactor. The reactions, which were catalyzed by a heterogeneous acid catalyst (12-molybdophosphoric acid supported onto aluminum oxide), demonstrated an efficient route for producing a product mixture containing ester contents greater than 96.5 wt%, total conversion of triacylglycerols, and low levels of mono- and diacylglycerols, promoting an ethyl ester mixture with possible integration within the biodiesel market specifications.

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Funding

Authors are thankful to FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) for Grants #16/10636-8, #17/12908-8, and #18/01386-3; to CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil)—Finance Code 001; and to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico CNPq (Process Number 433248/2018-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, Lorena, SP, 12602-810, Brazil

    Savienne M. F. E. Zorn, Cristiano E. R. Reis, Heitor B. S. Bento, Ana Karine F. de Carvalho, Messias B. Silva & Heizir F. De Castro

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  1. Savienne M. F. E. Zorn
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  2. Cristiano E. R. Reis
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  3. Heitor B. S. Bento
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  4. Ana Karine F. de Carvalho
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  6. Heizir F. De Castro
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Correspondence to Heizir F. De Castro.

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Zorn, S.M.F.E., Reis, C.E.R., Bento, H.B.S. et al. In Situ Transesterification of Marine Microalgae Biomass via Heterogeneous Acid Catalysis. Bioenerg. Res. 13, 1260–1268 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-020-10151-6

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