Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Agricultural Engineering

At present, energy dependence on petrol fuels has been identified as a future challenge owing to the expected depletion of fossil fuel reserves and fast increasing consumption over recent years and thus could be said the increasing need for sustainable energy calls for the development of renewable and cost-effective alternative energy sources to reduce the use of fossil fuels. The ability of microalgae to produce high amount of lipid with fast growth rate made it superior biodiesel producers. Daily and diurnal cyclic changes in weather conditions, dramatic fluctuations of light intensity, limited capabilities of harvesting light and self-shading of microalgae are the most important problems. The objective of this study was to increase biodiesel production from green microalgal Chlorella sorokiniana biomass using Gas laser, (Red He-Ne laser 632.8 nm). The present study investigated the effect of monochromatic Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and He-Ne laser on the growth of the green microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana. The irradiation of microalgal cell with laser source was hypothesized to enhance the accumulated of lipid, which increases the biodiesel production. The photobiostimulating effects of laser irradiation on biodiesel was investigated by irradiating the microalgal biomass two hours with 632.8 nm He-Ne red laser source compared with two hours white light as a control. The results showed that under He-Ne red laser irradiation the oil content was three times the white light as a control which yielded 1.2 g Oil L-1 Microalgae, 0.4 g Oil L-1 Microalgae

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