Energies 2012, 5(4), 862-871; doi:10.3390/en5040862
Article

Microwave-Assisted Transesterification of Macroalgae

Angeles Cancela 1 email, Rocio Maceiras 2,* email, Santiago Urrejola 2 email and Angel Sanchez 1 email
1 Chemical Engineering Department, ETSEI, Rua Maxwell s/n, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 37210 Vigo, Spain 2 Defense University Center, Escuela Naval Militar, Plaza de España 2, 36920 Marin, Spain
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 22 February 2012; in revised form: 19 March 2012 / Accepted: 22 March 2012 / Published: 26 March 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Algae Fuel)
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Abstract: Nowadays microwave radiation is being researched to produce biodiesel from different raw materials due to the many advantages that this technology presents compared to traditional transesterification, such as shorter reaction times and less amount of heat energy to obtain biodiesel. The aim of this research was to explore the possibility of carrying out the microwave-assisted transesterification of macroalgae and compare the results with the traditional transesterification. For that reason, some experiences were conducted using sunflower oil and macroalgae as raw material. Based on the obtained results, the best conditions for microwave-assisted transesterification reaction were macroalgae to methanol ratio of 1:15 (wt/vol), sodium hydroxide concentration of 2 wt % and reaction time of 3 min.
Keywords: macroalgae; sunflower oil; microwave-assisted transesterification; Chondrus crispus, Himanthalia elongata; Undaris pinnatifida

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Cancela, A.; Maceiras, R.; Urrejola, S.; Sanchez, A. Microwave-Assisted Transesterification of Macroalgae. Energies 2012, 5, 862-871.

AMA Style

Cancela A, Maceiras R, Urrejola S, Sanchez A. Microwave-Assisted Transesterification of Macroalgae. Energies. 2012; 5(4):862-871.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cancela, Angeles; Maceiras, Rocio; Urrejola, Santiago; Sanchez, Angel. 2012. "Microwave-Assisted Transesterification of Macroalgae." Energies 5, no. 4: 862-871.

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