Author(s)

Angel Almarales, Gisel Chenard, Roberto Abdala, Donato A. Gomes, Yordanka Reyes, Neyda Om Tapanes

Ecology Department, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
GREETEC Laboratory, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;.
Materials Laboratory, West Zone State University Center (UEZO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Hydroesterification process has been presented biodiesel production from oil the green microalga Nannochloropsis oculata raw materials. Biodiesel studied in this work is the main product got from the hydroesterification of biomass the Nannochloropsis oculata and was obtained from esterification of fatty acid (product of a hydrolysis reaction) with methanol. It was used as catalyst the niobic acid pure and supported on δ-aluminum. The product was evaluated by gas chromatography and other analyses. The optimum conditions found in the conversion (%) for the hydrolysis reactions of the biomass (92.3%). Better results were observed in the algae concentration 20%, lead at 300?C with 20% of catalyst. For esterification of fatty acids of Nannochloropsis oculata (92.24%), were observed the molar ratio methanol: fat acid 3, lead at 200°C with 20% of catalyst supported.

Biodiesel Microalgae; Hydrolysis; Esterification; Nannochloropsis oculata

Almarales, A. , Chenard, G. , Abdala, R. , Gomes, D. , Reyes, Y. and Tapanes, N. (2012) Hydroesterification of Nannochloropsis oculata microalga’s biomass to biodiesel on Al₂O₃ supported Nb₂O₅ catalyst. Natural Science, 4, 204-210. doi: 10.4236/ns.2012.44031.