Optimization microwave assisted transesterification insitu for biodiesel production from Chlorella sp. using response surface methodology

Chlorella sp. is a potential raw material for biodiesel production because of its high lipid content. Microwave assisted transesterification insitu from Chlorella sp. was investigated to determine the effect of reaction time, catalyst concentration and microwave power on biodiesel yield using response surface methodology for optimization. In this process the use of microwave irradiation to speed up the lipid extraction process and the transesterification reaction is simultaneously converted to methyl-esters. Faced-centered Central Composite Design (FCCD) design was applied to evaluate the effects of three independent variables: reaction time (10-50 minutes), microwave power (300-600 W), and H2SO4 catalyst concentration (0.1-0.9 gr/mL). The results showed that biodiesel yield increased with reaction time, power and catalyst concentration. Through optimization with response surface, this methodology with Face-Center Central Composite (FCCD). gave the highest biodiesel yield of 19.5% at 561 W, 40.5 minutes and 0.42 gr/mL catalyst concentrations with p-values from lack of fit insignificance, indicating that the model was a good representation of experimental.