Biodiesel production from algae grown on food industry wastewater

Abstract

Algae have an ample potential to produce biodiesel from spent wash of food industry. In addition, it is cheaper and presents an environment friendly way to handle food industry wastewater. This study was conducted to optimize the growth of microalgal strains and to assess biodiesel production potential of algae using untreated food industry wastewater as a source of nutrients. The food industry wastewater was collected and analyzed for its physicochemical characteristics. Different dilutions (10, 20, 40, 80, and 100%) of this wastewater were made with distilled water, and growth of two microalgal strains (Cladophora sp. and Spyrogyra sp.) was recorded. Each type of wastewater was inoculated with microalgae, and biomass was harvested after 7 days. The growth of both strains was also evaluated at varying temperatures, pH and light periods to optimize the algal growth for enhanced biodiesel production. After optimization, biodiesel production by Spyrogyra sp. was recorded in real food industry wastewater. The algal biomass increased with increasing level of food industry wastewater and was at maximum with 100% wastewater. Moreover, statistically similar results were found with algal growth on 100% wastewater and also on Bristol's media. The Cladophora sp. produced higher biomass than Spyrogyra sp. while growing on food industry wastewater. The optimal growth of both microalgal strains was observed at temperature 30 °C, pH: 8, light 24 h. Cladophora sp. was further evaluated for biodiesel production while growing on 100% wastewater and found that this strain produced high level of oil and biodiesel. Algae have an ample potential to produce biodiesel from spent wash of food industry. In addition, it is cheaper and presents an environment friendly way to handle food industry wastewater.

Sustainable Feedstocks and Challenges in Biodiesel Production: An Advanced Bibliometric Analysis

“…This shows that the importance of each article is dictated by the high quality of the scientific research performed, thus some of them receive a more significant number of citations than others. The University of Agriculture in Faisalabad (UAF) can also be highlighted with three publications [ 28 , 29 , 30 ] that obtained only seven citations (an average of 2.3 citations per document), also confirming the above trend. Naturally, there may be other factors that cause this discrepancy, such as the point in time when the article was published, among others.…”

Potential of the microalgae Chlorella fusca (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) for biomass production and urban wastewater phycoremediation

“…(4) They are a perfect candidate for the sequestration of CO 2 and the reduction of GHGs. (5) They can utilize nutrients from most wastewaters, providing an alternative method for their treatment (Mureed et al 2018 ; Li et al 2019 ). (6) Residues of microalgal biomass, after lipid extraction, can be utilized as a source of nitrogen, as a protein-rich food, or crop fertilizer (Li et al 2019 ).…”

Isolation and Characterization of Microalgae from Diverse Pakistani Habitats: Exploring Third-Generation Biofuel Potential

“…Microalgae are being intensively investigated due to their rapid growth and variety of potential applications, in particular as promising feedstocks for biofuel production [1][2][3][4], biogas production [5,6], wastewater purification [7,8], and animal feed [9], as well as for human food and nutraceutical products [10].…”

“…Pakistan's diverse habitats with unique geologic and climatic conditions suggest the potential for varied algae diversity in Pakistan, particularly Chlorophyceae [27][28][29]. Wastewater has already been proposed as substrate for the development of microalgae and their utilization for the biodiesel generation [8] and an initial attempt at algal-based biodiesel production using Cladophora sp biomass has already been made [29]. However, in general, microalgae have been little examined in Pakistan, especially in regards to their biofuel or biotechnological potential [26,29,30], and thus additional exploration is warranted.…”