Abstract
This work aimed to produce ethyl esters from Chlorella vulgaris microalgae biomass, using an immobilized enzymatic catalyst associated with pressurized fluid (propane) by direct transesterification. In order to optimize the ethyl conversion, different temperatures (46.7–68.1 °C) and pressures (59.5–200.5 bar) were applied a central composite design rotational (CCDR) obtaining the high conversion (74.39%) at 50 °C and 180 bar. The molar ratio also was investigated showing conversions ~ 90% using a molar ratio of 1:24 (oil:ethanol). From the best transesterification conditions, 50 °C, 180 bar, 20% enzymatic concentration, and 1:24 oil:ethanol molar ratio were obtained with success 98.9% conversion in 7 h of reaction. The enzyme reuse maintained its activity for three successive cycles. Thus, this simple process was effective to convert microalgal biomass into ethyl ester by direct transesterification and demonstrate high yields.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angarita, E. E. Y., Rocha, M. H., Lora, E. E. S., Venturini, O. J., Torre, E. A., Alves, C. T., & Restrepo, S. Y. G. (2012). Biocombustíveis de Primeira Geração: biodiesel. In Biocombustíveis, 173–300.
Christopher, L. P., Kumar, H., & Zambare, V. P. (2014). Enzymatic biodiesel: challenges and opportunities. Applied Energy, 119, 497–520.
da Silva, C., & Oliveira, J. V. (2014). Biodiesel production through non-catalytic supercritical transesterification: current state and perspectives. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 31(2), 271–285.
FAO, Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit (FIDI). 2002. Fishery Statistical Collections. FIGIS DataCollection. FAO, Rome. (2006) Available from: http://www.fao.org. Accessed May 02, 2018.
Rashid, N., Ur Rehman, M. S., Sadiq, M., Mahmood, T., & Han, J. I. (2014). Current status, issues and developments in microalgae derived biodiesel production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40, 760–778.
Skorupskaite, V., Makareviciene, V., & Gumbyte, M. (2016). Opportunities for simultaneous oil extraction and transesterification during biodiesel fuel production from microalgae: a review. Fuel Processing Technology, 150, 78–87.
Brusamarelo, C. Z., Rosset, E., de Césaro, A., Treichel, H., de Oliveira, D., Mazutti, M. A., … Oliveira, J. V. (2010). Kinetics of lipase-catalyzed synthesis of soybean fatty acid ethyl esters in pressurized propane. Journal of Biotechnology, 147(2), 108–115.
Nelson, D. R., & Viamajala, S. (2016). One-pot synthesis and recovery of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) from microalgae biomass. Catalysis Today, 269, 229, 29, 39.
Taher, H., Al-Zuhair, S., Al-Marzouqi, A. H., Haik, Y., Farid, M., & Tariq, S. (2014). Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of microalgae lipid: process optimization and laboratory scale-up. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 86, 57–66.
Amalia Kartika, I., Evon, P., Cerny, M., Suparno, O., Hermawan, D., Ariono, D., & Rigal, L. (2016). Simultaneous solvent extraction and transesterification of jatropha oil for biodiesel production, and potential application of the obtained cakes for binderless particleboard. Fuel, 181, 870–877.
Salam, K. A., Velasquez-Orta, S. B., & Harvey, A. P. (2016). A sustainable integrated in situ transesterification of microalgae for biodiesel production and associated co-product—a review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 65, 1179–1198.
Torres, S., Acien, G., García-Cuadra, F., & Navia, R. (2017). Direct transesterification of microalgae biomass and biodiesel refining with vacuum distillation. Algal Research, 28, 30–38.
Patil, P. D., Gude, V. G., Mannarswamy, A., Deng, S., Cooke, P., Munson-McGee, S., et al. (2011). Optimization of direct conversion of wet algae to biodiesel under supercritical methanol conditions. Bioresource Technology, 102(1), 118–122.
Marcon, N. S., Colet, R., Balen, D. S., Pereira de Pereira, C. M., Bibilio, D., Priamo, W., & Rosa, C. D. (2017). Enzymatic biodiesel production from microalgae biomass using propane as pressurized fluid. The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 95(7), 1340–1344.
Metcalfe, L. D., Schmitz, A. A., & Pelka, J. R. (1966). Rapid preparation of fatty acid esters from lipids for gas chromatographic analysis. Analytical Chemistry, 38(3), 514–515.
Hartman, L., & Lago, R. C. (1973). Rapid preparation of fatty acid methyl esters from lipids. Laboratory Practice, 22(6), 475–477.
Standard UNE-EN 14103, Fat and oil derivatives—fatty acid methyl esters (FAME)—determination of ester and linolenic acid methyl ester contents, issued by Asociacion Espanola de Normalizacion y Certificacion, Madrid, 2011, Available from: www.aenor.es/aenor/normas/ normas /fichanorma.asp?tipo¼N&codigo¼N0048045#.WGr fclMrJd Accessed March, 2, 2016.
Oliveira, D., Feihrmann, A. C., Rubira, A. F., Kunita, M. H., Dariva, C., & Oliveira, J. V. (2006). Assessment of two immobilized lipases activity treated in compressed fluids. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 38(3), 373–382.
Castro, H. F. de, & Anderson, W. a. (1995). Fine chemicals by biotransformation using lipases. Química Nova. 18, 544–554.
Ríos, S. D., Castañeda, J., Torras, C., Farriol, X., & Salvadó, J. (2013). Lipid extraction methods from microalgal biomass harvested by two different paths: screening studies toward biodiesel production. Bioresource Technology, 133, 378–388.
Knothe, G. (2009). Improving biodiesel fuel properties by modifying fatty ester composition. Energy & Environmental Science, 2(7), 759.
Rubio-Rodríguez, N., de Diego, S. M., Beltrán, S., Jaime, I., Sanz, M. T., & Rovira, J. (2008). Supercritical fluid extraction of the omega-3 rich oil contained in hake (Merluccius capensis–Merluccius paradoxus) by-products: study of the influence of process parameters on the extraction yield and oil quality. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 47(2), 215–226.
Vidović, S., Mujić, I., Zeković, Z., Lepojević, Ž., Milošević, S., & Jokić, S. (2011). Extraction of fatty acids from Boletus edulis by subcritical and supercritical carbon dioxide. Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, 88(8), 1189–1196.
Knothe, G. (2006). Analyzing biodiesel: standards and other methods. Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, 83(10), 823–833.
Khan, S. A., Rashmi, Hussain, M. Z., Prasad, S., & Banerjee, U. C. (2009). Prospects of biodiesel production from microalgae in India. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 13(9), 2361–2372.
Huang, G., Chen, F., Wei, D., Zhang, X., & Chen, G. (2010). Biodiesel production by microalgal biotechnology. Applied Energy, 87(1), 38–46.
Barros, M., Fleuri, L. F., & Macedo, G. A. (2010). Seed lipases: sources, applications and properties—a review. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 27(1), 15–29.
Qian, J., Wang, F., Liu, S., & Yun, Z. (2008). In situ alkaline transesterification of cottonseed oil for production of biodiesel and nontoxic cottonseed meal. Bioresource Technology, 99(18), 9009–9012.
Trentin, C. M., Popiolki, A. S., Batistella, L., Rosa, C. D., Treichel, H., de Oliveira, D., & Oliveira, J. V. (2015). Enzyme-catalyzed production of biodiesel by ultrasound-assisted ethanolysis of soybean oil in solvent-free system. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, 38(3), 437–448.
Zhang, Y., Li, Y., Zhang, X., & Tan, T. (2015). Biodiesel production by direct transesterification of microalgal biomass with co-solvent. Bioresource Technology, 196, 712–715.
Rosa, C. D., Morandim, M. B., Ninow, J. L., Oliveira, D., Treichel, H., & Oliveira, J. V. (2008). Lipase-catalyzed production of fatty acid ethyl esters from soybean oil in compressed propane. The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 47(1), 49–53.
Taher, H., Al-Zuhair, S., Al-Marzouqi, A., Haik, Y., & Farid, M. (2015). Growth of microalgae using CO2 enriched air for biodiesel production in supercritical CO2. Renewable Energy, 82, 61–70.
Lam, M. K., & Lee, K. T. (2013). Catalytic transesterification of high viscosity crude microalgae lipid to biodiesel: effect of co-solvent. Fuel Processing Technology, 110, 242–248.
Azócar, L., Navia, R., Beroiz, L., Jeison, D., & Ciudad, G. (2014). Enzymatic biodiesel production kinetics using co-solvent and an anhydrous medium: a strategy to improve lipase performance in a semi-continuous reactor. New Biotechnology, 31(5), 422–429.
Fjerbaek, L., Christensen, K.V., & Norddahl. B. (2009). A review of the current state of biodiesel production using enzymatic transesterification. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 102, 1298–1315, 5.
Noureddini, H., Gao, X., & Philkana, R. S. (2005). Immobilized Pseudomonas cepacia lipase for biodiesel fuel production from soybean oil. Bioresource Technology, 96(7), 769–777.
Li, X., Xu, H., & Wu, Q. (2007). Large-scale biodiesel production from microalga Chlorella protothecoides through heterotrophic cultivation in bioreactors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 98(4), 764–771.
Marjanović, A. V., Stamenković, O. S., Todorović, Z. B., Lazić, M. L., & Veljković, V. B. (2010). Kinetics of the base-catalyzed sunflower oil ethanolysis. Fuel, 89(3), 665–671.
Rahman, M. B. A., Jumbri, K., Hanafiah, N. A. M. A., Abdulmalek, E., Tejo, B. A., Basri, M., & Salleh, A. B. (2012). Enzymatic esterification of fatty acid esters by tetraethylammonium amino acid ionic liquids-coated Candida rugosa lipase. Journal of Molecular Catalysis B: Enzymatic, 79, 61–65.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank IFRS for chromatograph analyses.
Funding
This work is financially supported by Fapergs, URI Erechim, CNPq, and Capes.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marcon, N.S., Colet, R., Bibilio, D. et al. Production of Ethyl Esters by Direct Transesterification of Microalga Biomass Using Propane as Pressurized Fluid. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 187, 1285–1299 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-018-2882-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-018-2882-4