1. Evaluation of Five Methods for Oil Extraction and Esterification Mika Sifuentes1,2; Paul Zimba1 Mentor: Dr. Joe Fox, Center for Coastal Studies 1 Texas A&M University; 2 University of Dallas
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3. Algae Fuel Microalgae 30-70% of a cell’s biomass can be oil Transesterification used to make fuel TL Analysis initiated in 1950s
5. Extraction and Esterification Methods Indirect Method (2 Step) Folch et al. Bligh & Dyer Direct Method (1 Step) Lepage & Roy Rodriguez-Ruiz et al. Johnson & Wen
6. Objectives To assess methods for biofuel production Total Lipid Content Fatty Acid Composition
7. Materials Canola oil Known FA content 5, 10, 50, and 75 mg Five replicates of each
8. Procedure Measure four concentrations of samples and transesterify using the five methods Determine total lipid product Using GC-MS, determine fatty acid composition Analyze data using ANOVA (sample size vs method)
12. Discussion Indirect method has higher total fatty acid extracted Transesterification replicability at > 50 mg samples Johnson & Wen had the highest extraction, but contained too many outliers Folch (1957) and Bligh & Dyer (1959) methods yielded the most accurate results
13. Future Research Next step: extending this experiment to Nannochloropsis microalgae Comparing against alkaline catalyst methods Testing the relationship between sample and solvent volume
14. Acknowledgements Dr. Joe Fox Dr. Paul Zimba Center for Coastal Studies Marci Savage Alex Rafalski National Science Foundation REU#1004903 Summer Undergraduate Research Focus (SURF) Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Dr. Kevin Strychar
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