Biodiesel from Indigenous Indonesian Marine Microalgae, Nanochloropsis sp.

An addition the starches of corn were increasing the lipid content in the Nannochloropsis sp. cells and accelerate the growth. The algal cells of Nannochloropsis sp. with 15-30 % of lipid content were directly converted into oil for biodiesel purposes by extraction and esterification, trans-esterification processes. The yield was about 15-33% base on lipid content. The oil obtained at the reaction and conversion has viscosity around 220-280 mPas and the calorific value of 22-28 kJg-1, comparable to palm oil biodiesel but less than the fuel oil. Scale up the cultivation into 15 L culture vessel revealed the decline of the dry weight biomass and also oil recovery.