Now it is a known fact that algae are very good sources of lipids and oils which are vital for the production of biodiesel. You can easily produce your own home made biodiesel from algae; all you need is algae biomass, a sheet of cloth and a set of chemicals.
Unlike the other oil crops algae can grow very easily with out any human care and attention in any pond and stagnant water of any size. Algae can even grow in recycled water cans and bottles or any transparent plastic or glass containers such as an abandoned or old fish aquarium. And if you are not interested to grow algae, you can easily get algae biomass from ponds, rivers, lakes, water tanks etc. Following are the steps you need to follow in order to produce algae biodiesel at your home.
Step one: collect as many biomass of algae as you can from your pond, from your neighbor’s algae infested pond, from the river around, from lakes, from dams etc. collect as many as you can. Collect the algae biomass by filtering the algae using a sheet of cloth or blanket.
Step two: Once you separate the algae from the water you will get the algae slurry. Allow the algae slurry to dry under a shade for four to five days.
Step three: When the algae dries up use conventional oil press to extract the oil from the algae. If you don’t have an oil press you can get it easily in the market in less than $150. Collect the oil in a container with a good closure.
Step four: Once you have the oil now it is time to convert the oil to biodiesel. You can do this by using sodium hydroxide and methanol at the right proportion. First mix the methanol and the sodium hydroxide separately by adding the sodium hydroxide in the methanol. Dissolve the sodium hydroxide thoroughly in the methanol. When the sodium hydroxide and methanol mixed completely, add the mixture to the oil you extract from the algae and fasten the closure of the container and wait for 1 to 2 days for the biodiesel to form. For example let’s say you extracted a total of 10 litters of oil by using the oil press. Here is the procedure and exact amount of sodium hydroxide and methanol you should use. First you add 35 grams of sodium hydroxide to 2 litters of methanol mix them thoroughly until the sodium hydroxide dissolves completely. Second once the sodium hydroxide and the methanol mixed completely it becomes a 2 litter mixture. Add these 2 litters of mixture to the 10 litters of oil you extracted. Shake the mixture and the oil by hand for half an hour fasten the closure of the container and wait for 1 to 2 days for the biodiesel to form.
Step five: after 1 to 2 days the biodiesel will be formed at the top and glycerol will be settled down at the bottom, carefully drain the biodiesel to a filter paper and collect the filtered biodiesel in another container. You can now use your home made biodiesel to run your car, to heat your home, to run your engine etc.
Caution: Sodium hydroxide can be dangerous if handled without safety and care.
