Progress on Conventional and Advanced Techniques of In Situ Transesterification of Microalgae Lipids for Biodiesel Production
Fazril Ideris,
Mohd Faiz Muaz Ahmad Zamri,
Abd Halim Shamsuddin,
Saifuddin Nomanbhay,
Fitranto Kusumo,
Islam Md Rizwanul Fattah,
Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia
Affiliations
Fazril Ideris
Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohd Faiz Muaz Ahmad Zamri
Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Abd Halim Shamsuddin
Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Saifuddin Nomanbhay
Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Fitranto Kusumo
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Islam Md Rizwanul Fattah
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels have spurred many efforts in the quest for finding renewable, alternative sources of fuels, such as biodiesel. Due to its auxiliary functions in areas such as carbon dioxide sequestration and wastewater treatment, the potential of microalgae as a feedstock for biodiesel production has attracted a lot of attention from researchers all over the world. Major improvements have been made from the upstream to the downstream aspects related to microalgae processing. One of the main concerns is the high cost associated with the production of biodiesel from microalgae, which includes drying of the biomass and the subsequent lipid extraction. These two processes can be circumvented by applying direct or in situ transesterification of the wet microalgae biomass, hence substantially reducing the cost. In situ transesterification is considered as a significant improvement to commercially produce biodiesel from microalgae. This review covers the methods used to extract lipids from microalgae and various in situ transesterification methods, focusing on recent developments related to the process. Nevertheless, more studies need to be conducted to further enhance the discussed in situ transesterification methods before implementing them on a commercial scale.
