Optimization of biodiesel production from microalgae and investigation of exhaust emissions and engine performance for biodiesel blended

This paper evaluates the potential of using biodiesel from Dunaliella tertiolecta in the internal combustion engine to reduce emissions and fuel consumption and increase power output. The high cost of microalgae biomass production, the low efficiency of converting biomass into biodiesel and the increase in NOx production and fuel consumption with the combination of biodiesel in high percentages are the problems of this issue. In this article, by using the new solar still desalination/parabolic trough collector/geothermal hybrid system to supply the required water and heat and to investigate the effect of the influencing factors, the efficiency of microalgae production and transesterification process's conversion efficiency were obtained as 1.04 g/L and 80.22%, respectively. The addition of biodiesel from 0% to 20% in the fuel decreased CO, SOx and HC emissions, but CO2 and NOx emissions increased. Also, fuel consumption increased and engine output power decreased. The opti-mum point was found in order to emit the least emissions and reduce fuel consumption and increase the output power for the composition percentage of 11.5% biodiesel in the fuel.