Biodiesel is a biofuel that is derived from natural, renewable resources, such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Seaweed is one of the potential sources for producing biodiesel, as it is a fast-growing, abundant, and renewable resource that can be grown in both marine and freshwater environments.
The production of biodiesel from seaweed involves several steps, including harvesting, extraction of oils, transesterification, and purification. The process of extracting oils from seaweed typically involves using solvents or mechanical pressing methods. Transesterification is the process of converting the oil into biodiesel by reacting it with an alcohol (such as methanol) and a catalyst (such as sodium hydroxide). The resulting product is a mixture of biodiesel and glycerol, which must be separated and purified to obtain pure biodiesel.
In addition to biodiesel, seaweed can also be used to produce silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles have a wide range of applications, including in medicine, electronics, and environmental remediation. The production of silver nanoparticles from seaweed typically involves reducing silver ions in the presence of seaweed extract. The resulting silver nanoparticles have a high surface area and unique optical, electronic, and antimicrobial properties.
Overall, the production of biodiesel and silver nanoparticles from seaweed is an area of active research, and while there are many benefits to using seaweed as a feedstock for these products, there are also challenges that need to be addressed, such as the cost of cultivation and the scaling up of production.
Emission of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels to the atmosphere causes climate change, which made concern towards human society from adverse effects . The excessive use of energy will ultimately exhaust fossil fuel resources, raise carbon dioxide emissions, in turn,
increases the greenhouse effect that is hazardous for the environment, thus demands the
development of sustainable energy sources. Fossil fuel-based environmental damage will start to be critical from 2020 The usage of biodiesel overcomes the general environmental issues made by carbon
monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and volatile organic compound
emissions.
Biodiesel refers to the mixture of fatty acid alkyl esters synthesized from vegetable oils and
animal fats with alcohol via transesterification or esterification of free fatty acids. Biodiesel
is renewable, biodegradable, environmentally benign, energy efficiency and substitution
for fossil fuel usage. It can fulfill the energy security needs without sacrificing locomotive
engine operational performance. The production of biodiesel was carried out by
various sources such as plants, rapeseed, soybean, sunflower, microalgae, palm, animal fat and was
used as an alternative energy source.