Avaliação da potencialidade de microalgas dulcícolas como fonte de matéria-prima graxa para a produção de biodiesel Evaluation of the potentiality of freshwater microalgae as a source of raw material for biodiesel production

• Main Authors: Rafael Silva Menezes, Maria Inês Gonçalves Leles, Aline Terra Soares, Pedro Ivo Brandão e Melo Franco, Nelson Roberto Antoniosi Filho, Célia Leite Sant'Anna, Armando Augusto Henriques Vieira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Química 2013-01-01
• Series: Química Nova
• Subjects: microalgae; transesterification; biodiesel
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-40422013000100003

<abstract language="eng">In this work, the fatty acid quantity and composition of six freshwater microalgae and soybean grains was determined by direct transesterification and gas chromatography analysis. The results showed that all the freshwater microalgae species presented a higher quantity of fatty acid than soybean grain. Choricystis sp. (A) provides 115% more fatty acids per gram of biomass than soybean grain. With regard to the fatty acid composition, Choricystis sp. (A) showed an adequate proportion of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, with lower quantity of polyunsaturated fatty acids and, akin to some marine microalgae, constitutes an alternative raw material for biodiesel production.