Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

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Original Research Article

Biodiesel Production from Azolla filiculoides (Water Fern)

Ali Salehzadeh¹*, Akram Sadat Naeemi² and Amir Arasteh¹

¹Department of Microbiology, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran, ²Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

*For correspondence: Email: salehzadeh@iaurasht.ac.ir; Tel: +981313210173

Received: 14 January 2013 Revised accepted: 16 March 2014

Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, June 2014; 13(6): 957-960

http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v13i6.19

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the potential of Azolla filiculoides, total body collected from a rice farm in northern Iran as source for biodiesel production.

Methods: Solvent extraction using Soxhlet apparatus with chloroform-methanol (2:1 v/v) solvent blend was used to obtain crude oil from freeze-dried the Azolla plant. Acid-catalyzed transesterification was used to convert fatty acids (FA), monoglycerides (MG), diglycerides (DG) and triglycerides (TG) in the extracts to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) by acid-catalyzed methylation. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was employed to analyze the FAMEs in the macroalgae biodiesel.

Results: The presence of myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1), myristic acid (C14:0), stearic acid (C18:3), oleic acid (C18:1) and linoleic acid 9C18:2), eicosenoic acid (C20:1), eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5), erucic acid (C22:1) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6) in the macroalgae biodiesel was confirmed.

Conclusion: The results indicate that biodiesel can be produced from macroalgae and that water fern is potentially an economical source of biodiesel due its ready availability and probable low cost.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Azolla filiculoides, Water fern, Fatty acid methyl esters.