95% extraction efficiency/recovery of the fatty acid lipid fraction and 33%

extraction of polar lipid components, with a lower recovery of the polar impurity
fraction expected given the use of a non-polar solvent such as hexane.
Hexane was selected for consistency with the experimental work that also used
this solvent system with good results [13] and because it is an ideal choice both
from a processing standpoint (hexane is easily recovered from lipids
downstream with low miscibility) and a selectivity standpoint (hexane is a nonpolar solvent and ideally targets extraction of neutral fatty acid lipids over polar
lipids which must be removed later anyway).
Hexane solvent is fed to the bottom of the extraction column at a 5:1 weight
ratio (hexane versus total algal solids, excluding other solids components
introduced from upstream processing).
The extraction column bottoms product or raffinate stream contains water,
residual biomass solids, and a small amount of lipid and solvent losses equating
to 67%, 5%, and 0.5% of polar lipids, fatty acid lipids, and solvent respectively,
relative to the column feed rates. This stream is routed to anaerobic digestion.
Fresh hexane solvent is mixed with the solvent recycle to make up for losses to
the raffinate and recovered lipid streams. All key process assumptions for the
extraction area, as well as comparisons to pertinent experimentally
demonstrated values to date, are summarized in Table 8.

Source: Process Design and Economics for the Conversion of Algal

Biomass to Biofuels: Algal Biomass Fractionation to Lipid- and

Carbohydrate-Derived Fuel Products R. Davis, C. Kinchin, J. Markham,
E.C.D. Tan, and L.M.L. Laurens National Renewable Energy Laboratory D.
Sexton, D. Knorr, P. Schoen, and J. Lukas Harris Group Inc.
The base-catalyzed reaction [1, 4] is most often used because: it uses low temperature
(60oC) and pressure ( 1.4 Bar) processing; it achieves high conversion (up to 98 %)

with minimum side reactions and low reaction time; conversion to methyl ester is direct
with no intermediate steps. As a catalyst in our case we use sodium hydroxide.

Source: SIMULATION OF BIODIESEL PRODUCTION BY TRANSESTERIFICATION OF

VEGETABLE OILS Chavdar Chilev, Evgeni Simeonov

higher molar ratio (7:1, methanol/UFO), and more amount
of catalyst (1.1 wt% NaOH) was needed when compared to
edible canola oil where optimal conditions were 315
318 K, 6:1 methanol/oil molar ratio and 1.0 wt% NaOH.
Source:

Advancements in development and characterization of biodiesel: A

review
Y.C. Sharma a,*, B. Singh a, S.N. Upadhyay b

The gas chromatograph of biodiesel is shown in Fig. 5. The fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs)
of the
biodiesel are presented in Table 5. There were nine FAMEs derivatized in the biodiesel, and
the most abundant
composition was oleic acid methyl ester with the content of 60.84%. Oleic acid methyl ester,
octadecadienoic
acid methyl ester, and octadecanoic acid methyl ester are 18 carbon acid methyl esters, and
the total content
of these three FAMEs was over 80%. This resulted in the high quality of the biodiesel.
The oil yield was about 37% on an organic basis, 933 g/mol and had a viscosity of 150
330mm2 s1 and a calorific value of 36 MJ kg1 (Minowa et al., 1995).
Source: High quality biodiesel production from a microalga Chlorella protothecoides by heterotrophic

growth in fermenters Han Xu, Xiaoling Miao, Qingyu Wu

Oleic acid is the major fatty acid present in palm oil and also in waste palm
oil. To reduce the complexity of the simulation problem, glycerol trioleate
(triolein) is selected to represent the palm oil feedstock for tryglycerides,
while the FFA is represented by oleic acid. Based on the selected compound,

the fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) are represented by methyl oleate
(moleate) as the biodiesel product.
Biodiesel is produced as the main product and glycerol as a value-added
byproduct. There are 1
reactor, 4 distillation columns, 2 flash drums and 2 separators together with
several heat exchangersand pumps in the process. Methanol is recovered
throughout the process and is recycled to the feed by three recycle loops

The main reaction for biodiesel production consists of the three-step

transesterification of
triglyceride (trilaurin, tripalmitin, triolein, tristearin, trilinolein and
trilinolenin), diglyceride (dilaurin, dipalmitin, diolein, distearin, dilinolein,
dilinolenin) and monoglyceride (monolaurin, monopalmitin, monoolein,
monolinolenin) with methanol as shown below. Note that the RCOOCH3 is the
biodiesel product which is a mixture of (methyl laurate, methyl myristate,
methyl palmitate, methyl stearate, methyl oleate, methyl linoleate).
Triglyceride + CH3OHDiglycerides + RCOOCH3
Diglyceride + CH3OHMonoglyceride + RCOOCH3
Monoglyceride + CH3OHGlycerol + RCOOCH3
When an esterification is applied to reduce free fatty acids in waste cooking
oil, the following
reaction where water is produced as a by-product, takes place:
RCOOH + CH3OHRCOOCH3 + H2O