Bonface Jiveri , Adhiambo Brendah Diana Kwanyi,Musyimi David and Sylvester Anami
Kibabii University 1st International Conference; June 22-24,2016
Abstract
Green seaweed Euchuma rhodophyta, Ulva lactuca and Enteromorpha flexuosa harvested from the Indian Ocean (Kenya) were characterized as feedstock for the production of lubricating oil and bio-fertilizer. Euchuma rhodophyta had the highest oil yields of 10.5% (g/g) followed by Ulva lactuca with 6.3% (g/g) and Enteromorpha flexuosa with 3% (g/g) from 100 g of algal biomass respectively. The average kinematic viscosity from all the three algae was 32 cst at 40oC suggesting a potential industrial application of the oils as lubricating base stock. Oil from the three marine algae had similar densities of 0.9132, 0.9136 and 0.9151 kg/L at 20oC though the oils were denser than the stipulated range of Shell Tellus Lubricating oils ranging between 0.8850kg/L-0.870kg/L. After oil extraction, the biomass was further converted into bio-fertilizer containing 10% potassium which is absent from many commercial fertilizers and rich in nitrogen (10%) and phosphorus (8%). We conclude that the three marine algae are potential source of bio-energy and bio-fertilizer and that industrial processing of the algae will be of significant economic and environmental advantage.
Key words: Algae, Bio-fertilizer, Lubricating oil, Marine.
