Currently, transportation fuels are produced from continuously depleting fossil fuel sources. This calls for additional renewable sources that could be used for the production of high quality transportation fuel. Bio-diesel is one such alternative. Soybean, a food crop, has been used in the past as a source of lipids for the production of bio-diesel. Algae are an alternative non-food source of lipids for bio-diesel and/or carbohydrates for bio-ethanol. We have surveyed algae and phytoplankton in the western Lake Erie basin to identify the predominant algae species. The lipid, carbohydrate and the protein content of lake species were determined. Sampling at selected lake sites was performed at regular intervals of time in an attempt to correlate lake conditions (i.e. temperature, phosphorus and nitrogen) with the selection and composition of species. Based on the results of these analyses, native species were identified as candidates for bio-diesel or bio-ethanol production.
Few preliminary experiments were performed to process soybean oil using a batch reactor to convert the triacylglycerides to free fatty acids which would then be converted to fatty acid methyl esters (bio-diesel) through transesterification. The optimized processing conditions can then be utilized to process algae.