Biodiesel Properties of Native Strain of Dunaliella Salina

Abstract

Cyanobacteria and microalgae can be suitable microorganisms for the production of biofuels to meet our needs of safe and clean sources of energy. Among them, Dunaliella strains are considered good feedstocks for biofuel production. In this regards, a naturally isolated strain of Dunaliella salina was investigated to be used as potential biodiesel feedstock. The microalgal strain was isolated from water samples collected from Maharlu Salt Lake, 30 km southeast of Shiraz, Iran. At the end of exponential phase of growth, total content of the lipids was extracted, esterified and then identified using GC/MS analysis. Several types of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were identified in the isolated microalgae. The composition of fatty acids in the studied species of microalgae was mainly hexadecanoic acid methyl ester and tetradecanoic acid methyl ester.