Fatty Acid Methyl Esters

Introduction

Biofuels are any fuel that is obtained from animal or plant matter. It is a renewable source of energy that is becoming increasingly more popular. The reason for this is that the people of the world are beginning to accept that fuels like fossil oils and gas will eventually become too uneconomical to extract. When this happens, a renewable source will be required to meet 100% of our fuel needs. Biofuel also contributed essentially nothing to the carbon emissions; this is because the vegetables grown have absorbed carbon dioxide during their growth, making the carbon dioxide produced when they are burnt negligible.

Fatty Acid Methyl Esters

There are two main types of biofuels; biodiesel and bioethanol. Methyl ester is the

Glycerol is commonly added to animal feeds to improve performance. Before ethylene glycol, glycerol was used as antifreeze due to its ability to form hydrogen bonds with water thus lowering its freezing point. The toxicity of ethylene glycol means that glycerol is once again being considered as a less toxic replacement. Glycerol can also be used to make soaps and detergents. When glycerol is reacted with sulfuric acid and nitric acid nitro-glycerine (a powerful explosive) is produced. Besides the production of glycerol there are numerous advantages to the production of fatty acid methyl esters.

Algae are photosynthetic organisms found in most habitats (usually aquatic). Algae are classed into macroalgae and microalgae. Micro algae are extremely efficient for their size. Microalgae have a much larger mass to surface area ratio than land plants which gives them a better access to carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. Current sources of oil are draining on land and soil that is needed for crops for food produce, algae however can be grown in bioreactors or artificially engineered ponds. The main reason scientists are exploring algae as a potential source is due to the fact that they yield large amounts of oil often more than 60% of their own mass. According to Brian J Gallagher "Biodiesel produced from microalgae grown in circulated ponds on non-arable land is not resource limited and has the potential for yields 50–100 times greater than biodiesel from soybeans". To produce the amount of oil that an acre of micro algae produces we would need to plant over 50 acres of soybeans. Algae have a harvesting cycle of 1-10 days so large amounts can be harvested in a relatively short space of time. Engineered ponds of microalgae may be enriched with the carbon dioxide emissions of fossil fuelled power plants, making the production of microalgae even more eco-friendly.