In-situ biodiesel synthesis from microalgae nannochloropsis oculata using nio nanocatalyst

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel or biofuel that can be produced from microalgal oil. Nannochloropsis oculata is a species of marine microalgae that is easily cultivated and has a high content of lipid. N. oculata lipids can be extracted efficiently using NiO nanocatalyst as cell disruption agent and organic solvents. The optimal treatment time for NiO nanocatalyst is 96 hours in chloroform. At the optimized conditions, the lipid extract from N. oculata reached 34.20 ± 0.52% of the total weight. The conversion of microalgal oil into biodiesel is carried out with a transesterification reaction using three different catalysts, respectively. Biodiesel conversion with NiO nanocatalyst is better than that with the other catalysts of NaOH and HCl. The conversion yield of microalgal oil to biodiesel with NiO nanocatalyst reaches 89.72%. Based on the advantage of NiO nanocatalyst as both a cell disruption agent and a catalyst, biodiesel production can be performed in an in-situ way. The conversion yield of biodiesel was 85.54% within 60 mins.