Micro-algal Lipids: A Potential Source of Biodiesel
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56511/JIPBS.2015.v2.i02.pp135-143Abstract
The global demand of energy is rising day by day. Petroleum based fuels are accepted as unsustainable because of depleting supplies and they also leads to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the environment. The oil content of various microalgae is up to 80% of their dry biomass. It is also reported that some microalgae can double their biomasses within 24 hours and the shortest doubling time during their growth is around 3.5 hours which makes microalgae an ideal renewable source for biofuel production. Photosynthesis based biofuel production summarize energy production with biological carbon dioxide fixation. Ideally they are carbon neutral, and they minimize emission of greenhouse gases. Microalgae are the group of microorganisms, which contains a huge amount of triacylglycerol inside the cellular organization. Trans-esterification process produces FAME (fatty acid methyl esters). Biodiesel can be used as a fuel for vehicles in its pure form, but it is usually used as a diesel additive to reduce levels of particulates, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons from diesel-powered vehicles. Microalgae, which can be either prokaryotic (cyanobacteria) or eukaryotic (green algae, diatoms) can grow rapidly as they have relatively simple cellular structure and can have high lipid percentage. They also require a least land area as compared to other biofuel crops. They are highly promising biofuel source. The production of biofuel from microalgae is a complex process. It comprises microalgae cultivation in a low cost nutrient medium, harvesting of cells from cultivation medium, cell drying &cell disruption (cells separation from the growth medium), low cost and efficient lipid extraction for biodiesel production through trans-esterification and starch hydrolysis, fermentation & distillation for bioethanol production. However, these processes are complex, technologically challenges and economically expensive. A significant challenge lies ahead for devising a viable biofuel production process.
Keywords:
Microalgae, Biodiesel, Algal lipids, Transesterification, Algal fuelDownloads
References
Borowitzka MA. Microalgae as source of essential fatty acids .Austr.J.Biotechnol . 1988;(I): 58-62.
Singh SC. Study on lipids of some dessication tolerant cyanobacteria. Ph.D Thesis, BanarasHindu University, Varanasi, India. 2002.
Schenk P, Thomas-Hall S, Stephens E, Marx U, Mussgnug J, Posten C, et al. Second generation biofuels: high-efficiency microalgae for biodiesel production. BioEnergy Res;(1):2008; (1):20 – 43.
Chisti Y. Biodiesel from microalgae. BiotechnolAdv;252007; (3):294 – 306.
Lele S. Indian Green Energy Awareness Center, http://www.svlele.com/ karanj.htm.
Metting FB. Biodiversity and application of microalgae. J IndMicrobiol;(17):1996; (5 – 6):477 – 89.
Spolaore P, Joannis-Cassan C, Duran E, Isambert A. Commercial applications of microalgae. J Biosci Bioeng;1: 2006; 01(2) : 87 – 96.
Dismukes GC, Carrieri D, Bennette N, Ananyev GM, Posewitz MC. Aquatic phototrophs: efficient alternatives to land-based crops for biofuels. CurrOpinBiotechnol;19: 2008;(3):235 – 40.
Searchinger T, Heimlich R, Houghton RA, Dong F, Elobeid A, Fabiosa J, et al. Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Science; 319:2008; (5867) :1238 – 40.
Cantrell KB, Ducey T, Ro KS, Hunt PG. Livestock waste-to-bioenergy generation opportunities. BioresourTechnol;99: 2008;(17):7941 – 53.
Rodolfi L, Zittelli GC, Bassi N, Padovani G, Biondi N, Bonini G, et al . Microalgae for oil: strain selection, induction of lipid synthesis and outdoor mass cultivation in a low-cost photobioreactor Biotechnol Bioeng;102:2008; (1): 100 – 12.
Hirano A, Ueda R, Hirayama S, Ogushi Y. CO 2 fixation and ethanol production with microalgal photosynthesis and intracellular anaerobic fermentation. Energy;22: 1997;(2 – 3):137 – 42.
Qin J. Bio-hydrocarbons from algae — impacts of temperature, light and salinity on algae growth. Barton, Australia: Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.2005;
Ghirardi ML, Zhang L, Lee JW, Flynn T, Seibert M, Greenbaum E, et al . Microalgae: a green source of renewable H 2 . Trends Biotechnol; 2000; 18(12):506 – 11.
Roessler PG, Brown LM, Himmel ME, Baker J, Overend RP, Dunahay TG, Heacox DA, Jarvis EE, Schneider JC, Talbot SG &Zeiler KG. Genetic engineering approaches for enhanced production of biodiesel fuel from microalgae. In Enzymatic Conversion of Biomass for Fuels Production, eds. Am. Chem. Soc ., 1994; 256-270.
Hoda H. senousy, GordanW. Beaks and Ethan Hack J Phycol (40):2004;412-423.
Sheehan J, Dunahay T, Benemann J, Roessler PA. Look Back at the U.S. Departmentof Energy’s Aquatic Species Program-Biodiesel from Algae; National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Golden, CO, USA.1998
Banerjee A, Sharma R, Chisti Y and Banerjee UC. BotryococusBraunii : A renewable source of hydrocarbons and other chemicals. C rit Rev Biotechnol., 2002;(22):245-279.
Gravirilescu M, Chisti Y. Biotechnologya sustainable alternative for chemical industry (23):2005; 471-499.
Ghirardi ML, Zhang L, Lee JW, Flynn T, Seibert M, Greenbaum E, et al . Microalgae: a green source of renewable H 2. Trends in Biotechnology; 2000; 18 (12) 506-11.
Akkerman I, Janssen M, Rocha J, Wijffels RH. Photobiological hydrogen production,Photochemicalefficiency and bioreacter design. Interternational journal of Hydrogen energy; 2002; 27. (11): 1195208.
Melis A. Green alga hydrogen production: progress, challenges and prospectes. Interternational journal of Hydrogen energy; 2002; 127 (11-12): 1217-28.
Kapdan IK, Kargi F. A review on biohydrogen production from waste material.Enzyme and Microbial Technology. 38; 2006; 569-582.
Parker MS, Mock T, Armbrust EV. Genomic insights into marine microalgae. Annu. Rev. Genet., 2008; 42: 619-645.
Li Y, Horsman M, Wang B, Wu N, Lan CQ. Effects of nitrogen sources on cell growth and lipid accumulation of green alga Neochlorisoleoabundans . Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol.2008; 81: 629-636.
Mata TM, Martins AA, Caetano NS. Microalgae for biodiesel production and other applications: A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy. 2009; Rev. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2009.07.020.
Um BH, Kim YS. Review: A chance for korea to advance algal-biodiesel technology. J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 2009; 15: 17.
Sialve B, Bernet N, Bernard O. Anaerobic digestion of microalgae as a necessary step to make microalgal biodiesel sustainable. Boitechnol. Adv.,2009; 27: 409-416.
Serdari A, Lois E &Stournas S. Impact of esters of monoand dicarboxylic acids on diesel fuel quality. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 1999; (38): 3543-3548.
Meng X, Yang JM, Xu X, Zhang L, Nie QJ & Xian M. Biodiesel production from oleaginous microorganisms. Renew. Energy., 2009; 34: (1): 1-5.
Thomas WH,Tornabene TG, Weissman J. Screening for lipidyielding microalgae: activities for 1983. SERI/STR-2312207. 1984; p. 31
Schmid-Straiger U. Algae biorefinery – Concept. National German Workshopon Biorefineries, 15 September 2009, Worms.
Barnwal BK, Sharma MP. Prospects of biodiesel production from vegetables oils in India. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. , 2005; (9): 363-378.
Felizardo P, Correia MJN, Raposo I, Mendes JF, Berkemeier R &Bordado JM. Production of biodiesel from waste frying oil. Waste Manage., 2006; (26): 487-493.
Vasudevan PT &Birggs M. Biodiesel production-current state of the art and challenges. J. In. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2008; (35): 421-430.
Chakravorty U, Hubett M-H, Nøstbakken L. Fuel versus food. Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ., 2009;1: 645-663
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2015 Parveen Kumar, Pradeep Kumar Sharma, Pradip Kumar Sharma, Deepansh Sharma
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Journal of Innovations in Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at