BIOMASS CONVERSION AND BIOREFINERY, vol.13, no.9, pp.7585-7599, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
Jatropha curcas and microalga Chlorella pyrenoidosa, two different biofuel feedstocks, are investigated in the present study for optimization of lipid production in the presence of zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl4) as a novel quenching agent. Furthermore, the biofixation ability of C. pyrenoidosa for carbon dioxide was also determined in batch experimental studies. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied for optimization of bio-oil extraction from selected feedstocks by varying the dose of the quenching agent (mg/g), extraction time (h), and temperature (degrees C). The optimized yield of bio-oil was obtained with 1.41 mg/g quenching agent, 60 degrees C temperature, and 1.5 h of reaction time. For J. curcas, optimized yield of bio-oil was 43.78% while 32.45% bio-oil yield was obtained with C. pyrenoidosa. Microalga showed highest biomass productivity (289.34 g L-1 day(-1)) at 10% CO2 concentration while maximum CO2 sequestration (5.5 +/- 0.07 g CO2 L-1 day(-1)) was observed at 20% CO2 concentrations. Bio-oil obtained from both feedstocks was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), which clearly shows peak at 1400-1700 cm(-1) that confirms the presence of carbonyl group (-COOR-). Thus, the present study provides a competitive analysis for the extraction of bio-oil which is an urgent need to enhance the process for economic sustainability.