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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel productionAuthor: Kamnee Boojhawon

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My name is Kamnee Boojhawon and I am an undergraduate student majoring in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology.

My current semester’s unit – Industrial bioprocessing and Bioremediation involved the biotechnology of algae in which I have a strong interest.

Murdoch University’s Algae Research and Development Centre was one of the new things that I discovered throughout my course since I had never heard of before. After doing some online research I found out that in November 2009, a joint $3.3 million project led by Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, and involving the University of Adelaide in South Australia leads the world algae biofuel research after more than 12 months of consistent results at both universities.

The project was the construction of a multi-million dollar pilot plant in Karratha in the North-West because of the better climatic conditions for the production of clean biofuel from open ponds without contamination and the project Leader is Professor Michael Borowitzka, one of my lecturers at Murdoch University.

Using Microalgae for the production of Biofuel most precisely biodiesel, one of the highest concerns in the world definitely caught my attention right away.

Are Microalgae the raw material for the production of biodiesel?Two scientific papers have been studied for a comparison and an answer to the question.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

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Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels production

Luisa Gouveia, Ana Cristina Oliveira., (2009), Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels

production, Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology. Volume 36, Issue 2, pp

269-274.

Renewable fuels from algae: an answer to debatable land based fuels.

Anoop Singh, Poonam Singh Nigam, Jerry D.Murphy. (2011), Renewable fuels from

algae: an answer to debatable land based fuels., Bioresource Technology, volume 102,

Issue 1, pp 10-16.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

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Comparisons of two scientific articles related to the production of biofuels from microalgae have been studied and

in both papers proves the same point which is there is no better way of producing biodiesel from microalgae.

Microalgae are highly efficient as a raw material for the production of biodiesel.

Such that Microalgae have advantages over land-based organisms for harvesting energy.

Also, microalgae will grow on non-arable or even arid land without any need for freshwater in cultivation.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

BackgroundThe production of biodiesel is made through the chemical reactions transesterification and esterification. This involves

vegetable or animal fats and oils being reacted with short-chain alcohols.

The transesterification reaction consists of transforming triglycerides into fatty acid alkyl esters, inthe presence of an alcohol, such as methanol or ethanol, and a catalyst, such as an alkali or acid, with glycerol as a byproduct (Vasudevan and Briggs., 2008).

Due to high oil prices and the competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources, such as palm and

soybeans, due to the world’s food crisis, an alternative source of biodiesel had to be thought of.

This is where the interest in biofuel from microalgae has been higher than ever before.

Microalgae are single-cell, photosynthetic organisms known for their rapid growth and high energy content. Some

algal strains are capable of doubling their mass several times per day.

They permit the use of non-arable land and non-potable water

and do not displace food crops cultures.

Their production is not seasonal and can be harvested daily.

Known as the fastest growing plant species in the world,

their compositions of lipids are somewhat similar to

petroleum molecules and scientists have figured out how to

transform these lipids into biofuels.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

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The diagram to the right depicts the production

of biodiesel from the growth of the microalgae

in saline water to the harvest and hence

extraction of oil.

The flow chart to the left shows the different

biofuels from microalgae cultivation.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels production

Luisa Gouveia, Ana Cristina Oliveira., (2009), Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels production, Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology.

Volume 36, Issue 2, pp 269-274.

According to the studies in this article, microalgae seems to be the only source of renewable biodiesel that has the

potential to completely displace petroleum-derived transport fuels without the controversial argument “food for fuel”.

Table 1 shows the comparison of oil yield of some sources of biodiesel.

Some microalgae species were screened in order to choose the best one(s), both in terms of quality and quantity as oil

source for biofuel production.

The microalgae used in this study were Chlorella vulgaris, Spirulina maxima, Nannochloropsis sp., Neochloris

oleabundans, Scenedesmus obliquus and Dunaliella tertiolecta.

In short, the specific species of microalgae were grown under suitable conditions, harvested and then the oil was

extracted.

However, for Neochloris oleabundans and Nannochloropsis sp., growth was also performed under N-starvation.

The results were observed in table 2.Table 1: Table 2:

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

Neochloris oleabundans (fresh water microalga) and Nannochloropsis sp. (marine microalga) proved to be the most

suitable as raw materials for biofuel production, due to their high oil content (29.0 and 28.7%, respectively). Both

microalgae, when grown under nitrogen shortage, show a great increase (~50%) in oil quantity.

The fatty acid profile also was determined for all microalgae and the results are presented in the table 3.

All microalgal lipids are mainly composed of unsaturated fatty acids (50–65%) and a significant percentage of palmitic

acid (C16:0) was also present (17–40%).

The oils obtained from the microalgae with higher oil content were characterized in terms of iodine value and the

obtained results meet the biodiesel quality specifications (<120 gI2/100 g). It indicates that these microalgae oils are

competitive with some vegetable oils traditionally used for biodiesel production. that usually present iodine values

higher than 120. (refer to table 4)

Table 3 Table 4: Microalgal iodine values.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

Renewable fuels from algae: an answer to debatable land based fuels. Anoop Singh, Poonam Singh Nigam, Jerry D.Murphy. (2011), Renewable fuels from algae: an answer to debatable land based fuels.,

Bioresource Technology, volume 102, Issue 1, pp 10-16.

This article compares the three generations of biofuel production and explains how the third generation (biofuels

from algae) is the solution to the first two.

1st generation: biofuels from food crops such as grains, sugarcane and vegetable oils.

2nd generation: biofuels produced from lignocellulosic feedstocks.

3rd generation: biofuels from algae.

The first and the second biofuel generation

reported displacement of food crops,

effects of the environment and climate change.

There was an increased pressure on arable land

which was used for food production and hence

leads to severe food shortages and hence the

most serious problem was that of food market price

increased.

Table 5 shows that all bioethanol

and biodiesel crops are utilizing

huge land area except for algal

biodiesel production.

Table 5: Water footprint, land use and biofuel yield of various energy crop.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

Algae are the raw material in the form of a lipid-rich feedstock for biofuel production and are considered as the

only alternative to current biofuel as they do not require arable land.

Their capability to grow in industrial, municipal and agricultural wastewaters and seawater overcome the

hurdles of the high water demand.

Finally, biodiesel production from algae is the promising technology as they contain oils that can be used as raw

material and they have the advantage that they do not conflict with food production.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

Comparison of papers:

Gouveia and Oliveira and Singh et al. both diverge towards the same point that microalgae should be the current raw

materials for biofuel productions.

Gouveia and Oliveira studied few microalgae species to find out which one has the highest oil content and also

differentiated among the oil yield in other different sources of biodiesel.

The result was such that microalgae were the most highly efficient one in terms of oil content.

The culturing system of the microalgae was both indoor (airlift bioreactors) and

outdoor (raceways agitated by paddle wheels).

Evidences were provided about the oil yield in microalgae compared to terrestrial crops.

Singh et al. confirmed the point by studying and comparing the three generations of biofuel production and the

common issues associated with them. The result of the study of the water footprint, land use and biofuel yield was

such that microalgae won in terms of least land use and highest biofuel yield.

Hence, the third generation which is biofuel production from microalgae is the actual current alternative source for

biodiesel.

In short, both articles summarises in terms of microalgae currently being promoted as the ideal third generation

biofuel feedstock as they have a rapid growth rate, CO2 fixation ability and high production capacity of lipids.

Also, they also do not compete with food or feed crops, and they can be produced on non-arable land.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

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The study carried out by Gouveia and Oliveira provided evidences about the oil yield in terrestrial crops as well as

few species of microalgae. More importantly proved how Neochloris oleabundans (fresh water microalga) and

Nannochloropsis sp. (marine microalga) proved to be the most suitable as raw materials for biofuel production most

precisely biodiesel production.

The use of the indoor and outdoor culturing system of the microalgae were both used in this study to have an

unbiased result. The claims were supported by evidences.

Even the microalgal biomass production costs had been thought of whereby to reduce it, the biomass remaining

after oil extraction, can be used as fertilizer or feed, can undergo anaerobic fermentation to obtain biogas and/or a

pyrolysis process, or to extract high value chemical compounds in a biorefinery concept.

Singh et al., did a study on the water footprint, land use and biofuel yield by cultivating various energy crop.

The claim was sufficiently supported by evidences and the author promoted the view as to how the microalgal

biodiesel abide by the literature.

Progress were achieved on an economical, commercial and environmental friendly basis.

Both research articles provided evidences and they were relevant enough to prove the point of microalgae being

the actual raw material for biodiesel production.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

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The question was: Are Microalgae the raw material for the production of biodiesel?

And the research made in the two articles discussed was fair and answered the question with

evidences from studies.

Environmental problems, high price of diesel, ozone depletion, land use for fuel among other

problems have been solved by the studies of the article.

Hence, these kind of researches are relevant on a world wide basis.

These researches should be funded by the governments as there are further research possibilities in

this field and its expansion can only be good.

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Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production

References

Anoop Singh, Poonam Singh Nigam, Jerry D.Murphy. (2011), Renewable fuels from algae: an answer to

debatable land based fuels., Bioresource Technology, volume 102, Issue 1, pp 10-16.

Gouveia Luisa , Oliveira Ana Cristina ., (2009), Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels production,

Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology. Volume 36, Issue 2, pp 269-274.

Vasudevan P and Briggs M., (2008) Biodiesel production—current state of the art and challenges.

Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2008; 35:421-430.