Feasibility of microalgae culturing on Dairy waste for biodiesel production

Abstract

Recently Biodiesel has a lot of concerns by number of researchers , due to its environmental benefits, a renewable energy resource, could replace fossil fuels, and the fact that lack of fossil fuels has become imminent. The cost of biodiesel production is the main barrier. The objectives of the present study was economic mass production of microalgae growing on dairy waste (sweet whey ) for lipid accumulation. The obtained data revealed that diluted waste (50%), when compared with (BBM) medium was a promising alternative medium for cultivating of microalgae Anabaena oryzae, Chlorella vulgaris and mixture of both. While the difference in (chlorophyll a and dry weight) obtained from 50 % waste and BBM cultures of all tested organisms was insignificant, the lipid percentage increased by (29.3,13.4 and 16.5 % ) in Anabaena, Chlorella and their mixture respectively, compared with corresponding control cultures. Maximum lipid productivity of Anabaena, Chlorella and their mixture was (2.03, 5.78 and 4.88 mg/l/day). Role of microalgae in biological treatment of waste was noticeable, whereas reduction in all tested parameters (TSS, TDS, COD, TN, NH3, NO3 and P) was recorded. Extracted oil was esterified and analyzed using GC-Ms analysis. The predicted biodiesel properties using obtained fatty acid profile promised with good clean biodiesel meet international qualities of biodiesel