Continuous Microscale production of Biodiesel from Algae oil

The continuous increase in the global demand for energy along with the increase in greenhouse gas emissions allowed in the past for the rise in interest in biodiesel as an alternative fuel thanks to his biodegradability, renewability, and lower environmental detriment. The conventional biodiesel production processes based on batch transesterification showed some weaknesses from technological, economic, and environmental points of view. To improve mixing and mass transfer, thus intensifying the transesterification process, some novel reactors, like microchannel reactors, have been developed. The use of third generation biomass such as microalgae, was investigated to avoid the use of food-based feedstocks. This biomass is also of large interest for the extraction of high value-added products, making its cultivation desirable regardless of the fuel’s production. This study aimed to enhance biodiesel production through a microchannel reactor process and simplified downstream. The research considered the effect of water presence, the impact of channel size and flow velocity. Significant improvements were achieved, reducing reaction time to 1/15 and alcohol-to-oil molar ratio to 1/4 with respect to the batch process. Density was identified as a valuable parameter for real-time monitoring and process control. The process intensification measures implemented, and the parameters’ optimization performed showed significant advantages in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and waste reduction.