Iran’s Qeshm Lauched Biofuel-BAYA®
Iran-based Qeshm Microalgae Biorefinery Co. (QMAB) has launched a biofuel in the name BAYA®. The biofuel is extracted from a species of Nanochloropsis (strain 6016) which is isolated from Persian Gulf.
The company has developed its own process of scaling up cultivation and biofuel production. The strain of algae used in the production of BAYA® contains lipid content ranging from 31% to 68% dry weight.
QMAB’s cultivation takes place through several processes in fields, containing reactor beds, algae inoculation and nutrient source, a CO2 source, circulation pumps, an
d harvest sumps. Each field contains 300 x 3000 m² reactor beds. Carbon dioxide is drawn from a gas fired power plant and diluted to a concentration of 6% CO2 with dry air.
30% of the culture is harvested every day and collected at a harvest sump location where it is continuously pumped into a high-pressure homogenizer. From there, the algae are fed through a pipeline system to where lipid extraction takes place. In the high-pressure homogenizer 90% of the lipids from the algae are extracted into the lipid stream (the remaining 10% are trapped in the biomass).
The broken cells then separate into lipid, water, and biomass layers in a gravity clarifier.
From the clarifier, the lipid layer is siphoned off. The remaining water and biomass mixture is partially separated in the clarifier as well. The water separated and recycled for algae cultivation.
