Potential assessment of microalgal oils for biodiesel production: A review

In view of increasing energy demand,climate change,increasing price of petroleum and fast depleting fossil fuel resources,the urgent need of finding alternatives fuels is being felt all over the world. presently,the microalgae,are viewed as potential 3rd generation source of biodiesel due to significant advantages over terrestrial seed oil plants. the paper attempts theoretically to assess the potential of oils from six microalgae species available in north part of india for the production of biodiesel on the basis on oxidation stability index and oxidizability. based on the fatty acid compositions,ape and bape are find theoretically. on the basis of ape and bape,oxidation stability index and oxidizability have been assessed. the grading of oils in terms of osi and ox helps to select the potential feed stocks for biodiesel production and discard the other feed stocks that may require considerable efforts to improve the oxidation stability. it is concluded that the oils can be arranged in the decreasing order of oxidation stability index: pithophora> spirogyra> hydrodictyon> cladophora> tolypothrix> rhizoclonium and on the basis of oxidizability.: pithophora> spirogyra> hydrodictyon> cladophora> tolypothrix> rhizoclonium which means that pithophora takes more time to oxidize and best suited for biodiesel production while the other oil needs antioxidant to increase their stability for biodiesel production.