Potential of Microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus Grown in Brewery Wastewater for Biodiesel Production
Mata, T.
Melo, A.
Meireles, S.
Mendes, A.
Martins, A.
Caetano, N.S.
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How to Cite

Mata T., Melo A., Meireles S., Mendes A., Martins A., Caetano N., 2013, Potential of Microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus Grown in Brewery Wastewater for Biodiesel Production, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 32, 901-906.
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Abstract

This work aims to analyze the possibility of growing microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus (S. obliquus) in a brewery wastewater as a potential candidate for biodiesel production. For this purpose S. obliquus was cultivated in a synthetic brewery wastewater at 12,000 Lux of light intensity, with a 12 h period of daily light and aeration. Under these conditions, results revealed an average lipid content of 27 % of dry-weight (dwt) biomass and average biomass and lipid concentrations of respectively, 0.90 and 0.24 g/L (of dwt biomass). The fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) transesterified from the lipids are mainly composed of saturated esters (56.4 %) among which, palmitate (C16:0) is the most significant with a relative percentage of 47.8 % (wt). With regard to the unsaturated esters, the percentage of 10.6 % (wt) obtained for linolenate (C18:3) is below the maximum limit imposed by the EN 14214:2003 standard for this ester in biodiesel. The average molecular mass of these lipids and FAME are respectively 845.2 and 283.1 g/mol.
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