Characterization of algae oil (oilgae) and its potential as biofuel in Kenya

Overview
Cite Work

Abstract

A survey of microalgae biodiversity in three Kenyan Rift valley lakes identified high oil yielding species abundantly distributed naturally. The species were cultured in BBM and BG-11 media to obtain pure clones and lipids (oil) extracted by the Bligh and Dyer method. The peak lipid content ranged from 1.5 – 10.5% of algal biomass with Chlorella species showing the highest yields (10.5%), followed by Euglena acus (5.88), Nitzschia (3.68%), Ankistrodesmus falcatus (1.58%) and Scenedesmus acuminatus (1.56 %). The algae oil extracted from Chlorella spp contained significantly higher polyunsaturated long chain fatty acids with docosatetraenoate (C22:4) and octadecatetraenoate (C18:4) to be the major components. On the other hand, algae oil from Euglena spp exhibited higher mono-unsaturated long chain fatty acids with erucate (C22:1) and eicosenoate (18:1) being the major components. This implies that algae oil from Euglena spp has a much higher degree of oxidative stability compared to Chlorella spp and has can be cultivated for biofuel.

Read Download

Characterization of algae oil (oilgae) and its potential as biofuel in Kenya

Related Works