period. But it will also be available from October to February.
The main objective of this work is to produce biodiesel from E
compressa algal oil by conventional methods catalyzed by homoge-
neous catalyst such as NaOH and H2SO4. Since algal oil contains
high free fatty acids (FFA), when a base homogeneous catalyst is
used, FFA reacts with the catalyst to produce emulsified soap that
will inhibit biodiesel production. If an acid catalyst is applied, de-
spite the saponification phenomenon is avoided but the acid has
a less catalytic effect on the transesterification. Thus causes slower
reaction rate leads to longer time reaction and also less efficient
method (Deng et al., 2010). Therefore, a two step process, acid
esterification using H2SO4 to remove FFA followed by base transe-
sterification using NaOH, was used for the production of biodiese
from the E. compressa algal oil. Later, optimization of the acid pre-
treatment process for reducing the FFA content of algal oil below
1% for maximum biodiesel production and optimization of the
reaction parameters for the base transesterification with methano
using NaOH catalyst was established. No literature was found for
the production of biodiesel from marine macroalgae E. compressa
by two step process.