In-situ biodiesel production from municipal waste water treatment plant clarifier effluent stream

Abstract

The natural occurrence of micro-algal species in water treatment plants introduces many operational problems. If one, however, considers the high lipid, protein and carbohydrate content, micro-algae become attractive as feedstock for biofuels production. The aim of this study was to produce in situ biodiesel by means of hydrothermal and in situ thermochemical liquefaction under supercritical methanol conditions using micro-algae from a water treatment plant as feedstock