Can algae be used as biodiesel feedstock?
Summary. Microalgae are an ideal biodiesel feedstock, which eventually could replace petroleum-based fuel due to several advantages, such as high oil content, high rates of production, less land, etc. Currently, algal biodiesel production is still too expensive to be commercialized.
Where do algae stand as a biofuel feedstock?
Algae are unicellular microorganisms, capable of photosynthesis. They are considered as a potential oleo-feedstock, as they produce lipids through photosynthesis using only carbon, water, sunlight, phosphates, nitrates, and other (oligo) elements.
Does microalgae produce biodiesel?
Microalgae-derived biomass can supply a wide range of biofuels such as biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen, biomethane, and bioelectricity. Among all projected applications, microalgae-derived oils are the most promising for the production of biofuel (Shuba and Kifleb, 2018).
Why microalgae is used for biodiesel production?
Microalgae are biomass feedstock that have found remarkable application in biodiesel production. They are renowned to have high lipid content, CO2 emission mitigation, rapid growth rate and non-arable land use for cultivation [1]. These qualities present microalgae as advantageous over various other feedstock.
How do you make biofuel from microalgae?
Algal oils, just like oils produced by soy, canola, palm and the less-known jatropha plants, can be made good biodiesel feedstocks through transesterification. In that process, a catalyst creates a biodiesel fuel (consisting of fatty acid methyl esters) by hydrolyzing and methylating fatty acids in the oils.
What is microalgae biofuel production?
1.1. Biofuel Production. Bio-oil from microalgae can be used directly as fuel or chemically transesterified into biodiesel. Other microalgae biofuels such as ethanol and methane are produced as organic substrates and can be fermented by microbes under anaerobic conditions.
Why is algae a good source biofuel?
Advantages for Biofuels A significant advantage of using algae for biofuels is that it need not displace farmland used for growing food sources. The Department of Energy reports that algae have the potential to yield at least 30 times more energy than land-based crops currently used to produce biofuels.
What is microalgae biomass?
Microalgae biomass is a promising and sustainable feedstock with wide range of applications for biofuel, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, functional foods, aquaculture, and nutraceutical. The production scheme for microalgae products comprises several stages of processing.
How is algae biodiesel made?
Which algae is best for biodiesel?
The algae used in biodiesel production are usually aquatic unicellular green algae (Chlorophyceae). This type of algae is a photosynthetic eukaryote characterized by high growth rates and high population densities.
What are 2 challenges of using algae as a biofuel?
The algal biofuels production chain is outlined in Figure 3 and shows that the major challenges include strain isolation, nutrient sourcing and utilization, production management, harvesting, coproduct development, fuel extraction, refining and residual biomass utilization.
What can algae biomass be used for?
Biomass from algae can be used for pyrolysis oil or combined heat and power generation. Algae-derived renewable diesels and jet fuels are drop-in fuels that directly replace petroleum fuels without modification of engines.
Is microalgae a sustainable source of biodiesel?
This paper presents a comparison between the use of microalgae and palm oil as biodiesel feedstocks. It was found that microalgae are the more sustainable source of biodiesel in terms of food security and environmental impact compared to palm oil.
What is the energy conversion percentage of microalgae?
According to the law of thermodynamics, 10% of the solar energy can be converted into chemical energy by the process of photosynthesis. However, the energy conversion percentage of microalgae was reported to be only 1.5% because of the limited penetration of sunlight in a turbid algal pond ( Wolkers et al., 2011 ).
Can microalgae be used to generate organic compounds?
Microalgae are considered to be an efficient biological system for harvesting solar energy to use in the production of organic compounds [53], and because of their small size, they can be easily chemically treated. 7.
What affects the composition of fatty acid in microalgae?
5.3. Temperature stress Temperature was observed to have a major effect on the composition of fatty acid in microalgae ( Morgan-Kiss et al., 2006 ).