Algae Biodiesel in Your Backyard

If you want to know how to produce algae biodiesel in your garage, it does involve a little more than just pressing or squeezing, and there is a small chemical reaction thrown into the picture to add to the equation. The best kind of algae for the purposes of making algae biodiesel would be those pond scums, the green, slimy algae you can find sitting on top of ponds.

To make algae biodiesel you would need to have some basic things that can be rather costly, which can be replaced with your own kitchen equipments right at home. Or if you are more ambitious you can even purchase one of those biodiesel machines converters that are available in the marketplace today. Making algae biodiesel involves a two step process which can be done easily if you know how to do it right.

Oil Press The oil from algae can be pressed in several different ways. The easiest and most cost-effective way would be to press the algae using an oil press to extract the oil from it. This method can extract up to 75% of the oil content in the algae. As this doesn't require much knowledge of chemical reactions or any expensive solutions, this is one of the most ideal ways to extract oil from algae if you are making algae biodiesel at home.

The next method to consider when asking yourself how to produce algae biodiesel in your garage is the use of a chemical reaction to extract oil from the algae. This process can extract up to 95% of the oil contained in the algae being used. This method makes use of the hexane solvent solution that will be mixed with the leftover algae from the first press which would extract the remaining balance from those leftovers. The solution or oil that is produced needs to be cleaned and filtered so there will be no chemical left in it. The last method is the most efficient though the most complicated and the costliest of all to extract oil from algae. This involves the supercritical fluids method that can extract 100 percent oil from the algae biodiesel plant being processed.

The supercritical fluids method extracts up to 100 percent of the oil from algae. CO2 is used as the supercritical fluid here a substance is pressurized and heated to change its form into a liquid or a gas. When the pressure is enough and the gaseous for of carbon dioxide is turned into liquid it would be mixed with the algae. As soon as they are combined all of the remaining algae biodiesel plant will be turned into oil. However due to the extreme methods and the hassles of creating enough pressure to turn the gaseous carbon dioxide into a liquid form this is a less popular option, and not one for someone who is thinking about how to produce algae biodiesel in your garage.

Transesterification Okay, once you get the oil out, you need to out it through the last stage of processing algae into biodiesel before you can use it. This is a process known as transesterification. It is the process of refining that crude oil into a usable form by suing a chain of fatty acids an a catalyst such as sodium hydroxide to turn it into biodiesel. When sodium hydrochloride is mixed with alcohol you get biodiesel mixed with glycerin. How do you remove the glycerin? By refining and filtering it.

If you are thinking about "how to produce algae biodiesel in your garage" and you are really wanting an answer, then check out the book Making Algae Biodiesel at Home at http://www.world-of-algae.com/Algae-Biodiesel.html