The need for diversification in electricity production has to face economic, social, and environmental challenges. The nature availability of fuel-oil from algae may help meet clean, renewable, and cost effective energy. More efficient extraction methods that increase its production with less environment contamination are needs. Here we report on studies of azeotropic mixtures that allows an enhance in oil extraction as well as the decreasing of undesirable by-products in regards to cell wall penetration. Green-algae from a local river, was poured in pure solvents (ketone, hexanes) as well on azeotropic mixtures in either mechanical (ultra-sound) and Soxhlet extraction apparatuses. The product yields varied between 10-31% of crude on depending the solvent employed. Our findings suggest that azeotropic solutions are by far the best extraction solvent as well as that Soxhlet siphoning-cyclic method allows attain more clean crude than with the mechanical procedure. Samples has been characterized by spectroscopic and calorimetric measurements shown that extractions with azeotropic mixtures has highest energy values (49.14 MJ/kg) with less ash and other contaminants than that obtained with pure solvents alone. The oils extracted from river green-algae and commercially spirulline and chlorella with our azeotropic solutions showed to has an excellent correlation between calorific power content and yield product. One tremendous goal by obtaining fuel-oil from river green- algae leads with its high yield product, cheap and clean source of renewable energy. 

High performance of algae-oil extraction: The effect of azeotropic mixtures on cell wall penetration

247th National Meeting (2014)

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