Production of Biodiesel from Lipid of Porphyridium cruentum through Ultrasonic Method

A research on production of biodiesel from lipid of phytoplankton Porphyridium cruentum through ultrasonic method has been done. In this research, we carried out a series of phytoplankton cultures to determine the optimum time of growth and biodiesel synthesis process from phytoplankton lipids. Process of biodiesel synthesis consists of two steps, that is, isolation of phytoplankton lipids and biodiesel synthesis from those lipids. Oil isolation process was carried out by ultrasonic extraction method using ethanol 96%, while biodiesel synthesis was carried out by transesterification reaction using methanol and KOH catalyst under sonication. Weight of biodiesel yield per biomass Porphyridium cruentum is 40,27%. Characterization of biodiesel was well carried out in terms of physical properties which are density and viscosity and chemical properties which are FFA content, saponification value, and iodine value. These values meet the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM D6751) standard levels, except for the density value which was 0.9461 g·cm−3 and the FFA content which was 4.6671%.