scholarly journals Challenges of Downstream Processing for the Production of Biodiesel from Microalgae

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vânia Novais Pôjo
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Downstream Processing ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Microalgal Biomass ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Microalgae Biomass ◽  
Research Initiatives

The continuous reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable, due to the depletion of global reserves and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their use. Therefore, there are vigorous research initiatives intended to develop renewable alternatives. Microalgae are a promising alternative for biodiesel production and have received increasing attention during the last few decades. However, is not yet sufficiently cost-effective to compete with petroleum-based conventional fuels. This happens essentially because of downstream processing – harvesting microalgae biomass and extraction of lipids are two of the most expensive processes from the overall process. Harvesting, drying, cell disruption, oil extraction and transesterification (into biodiesel) are highlighted processes in this review article. The techniques associated with each process present advantages and handicaps that are here discussed. Improvements that will directly affect the final production costs of microalgal biomass-based biofuels are also proposed.

scholarly journals Genetic engineering of microalgae lipid biosynthesis for sustainable biodiesel production

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 072-077
Author(s):  
Siti Zulaiha
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Lipid Production ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Lipid Biosynthesis ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Promising Alternative

Biofuel is one of the most promising alternative energy sources for reducing human reliance on fossil fuels. Microalgae has recently emerged as the most promising biofuel source. However, biofuels from microalgae are still not feasible to replace fossil fuels because of their high production costs, therefore, it is necessary to pick microalgae species with high growth rates and lipid content. Overexpression of lipid biosynthesis enzymes and inhibition of competitive metabolic pathways are two genetic engineering strategies that can be developed to assess microalgae lipid production. Malate and multienzyme enzymes (GPAT, LPAAT and DGAT) can be overexpressed in microalgae to boost lipid production. The strategy of blocking competitive metabolic pathways can be carried out through suppression of starch metabolism and lipid catabolism. The strategy of blocking competitive metabolic pathways has been carried out in several microalgae and is effective for enhancing lipid biosynthesis. Several mutations that block both the starch metabolic and lipid catabolic pathways can result in increased levels of microalgal lipid accumulation.

scholarly journals Towards a sustainable approach for the development of biodiesel microalgae, Closterium sp.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
Nuttapong Saetang ◽  
Sawitree Tipnee
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Soxhlet Extraction ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Freshwater Microalgae ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Microalgae Biomass ◽  
Near Future

As fossil fuels are the principal source for the automobile and energy sectors, global warming and a rapid decrease in their availability are seen. Alternative fuels that are sustainable, renewable, and eco-friendly are widely investigated in order to maintain an aesthetic environment and combat fossil fuel depletion. Biofuels have the ability to both reduce pollution and provide energy. This study focuses on the extraction of oil from freshwater microalgae, Closterium sp. algae using the Soxhlet extraction process for biodiesel production. Oils are extracted from dry microalgae biomass and used in biodiesel production using solvent (hexane and acetone) extraction. With the help of solvents and catalysts, the extracted oil undergoes transesterification, which transforms it to biodiesel. Closterium sp. oil extraction using hexane and acetone yielded 7.8 and 5.6 g, respectively, as well as biodiesel was achieved 6.4 and 4.1 g. In the near future, this would be a revolutionary approach to produce cost-effective biodiesel from microalgae. Moreover, in this research article, Closterium sp. biotechnology for biodiesel production developments and prospects are discussed.

scholarly journals Production of Biodiesel from Castor Oil: A Review

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos S. Osorio-González ◽  
Natali Gómez-Falcon ◽  
Fabiola Sandoval-Salas ◽  
Rahul Saini ◽  
Satinder K. Brar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Castor Oil ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Fatty Acid Content ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Attractive Alternative

An attractive alternative to the use of fossil fuels is biodiesel, which can be obtained from a variety of feedstock through different transesterification systems such as ultrasound, microwave, biological, chemical, among others. The efficient and cost-effective biodiesel production depends on several parameters such as free fatty acid content in the feedstock, transesterification reaction efficiency, alcohol:oil ratio, catalysts type, and several parameters during the production process. However, biodiesel production from vegetable oils is under development, causing the final price of biodiesel to be higher than diesel derived from petroleum. An alternative to decrease the production costs will be the use of economical feedstocks and simple production processes. Castor oil is an excellent raw material in terms of price and quality, but especially this non-edible vegetable oil does not have any issues or compromise food security. Recently, the use of castor oil has attracted attention for producing and optimizing biodiesel production, due to high content of ricinoleic fatty acid and the possibility to esterify with only methanol, which assures low production costs. Additionally, biodiesel from castor oil has different advantages over conventional diesel. Some of them are biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable, they can be used alone, low greenhouse gas emission, among others. This review discusses and analyzes different transesterification processes, technologies, as well as different technical aspects during biodiesel production using castor oil as a feedstock.

scholarly journals Bio-Derived Catalysts: A Current Trend of Catalysts Used in Biodiesel Production

Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 812
Author(s):  
Hoang Chinh Nguyen ◽  
My-Linh Nguyen ◽  
Chia-Hung Su ◽  
Hwai Chyuan Ong ◽  
Horng-Yi Juan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Catalytic Activity ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
High Catalytic Activity ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Biodiesel Synthesis ◽  
Alkali Catalysts ◽  
A Current

Biodiesel is a promising alternative to fossil fuels and mainly produced from oils/fat through the (trans)esterification process. To enhance the reaction efficiency and simplify the production process, various catalysts have been introduced for biodiesel synthesis. Recently, the use of bio-derived catalysts has attracted more interest due to their high catalytic activity and ecofriendly properties. These catalysts include alkali catalysts, acid catalysts, and enzymes (biocatalysts), which are (bio)synthesized from various natural sources. This review summarizes the latest findings on these bio-derived catalysts, as well as their source and catalytic activity. The advantages and disadvantages of these catalysts are also discussed. These bio-based catalysts show a promising future and can be further used as a renewable catalyst for sustainable biodiesel production.

scholarly journals The Application of Catalytic Processes on the Production of Algae-based Biofuels: A Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Zuorro ◽  
Janet B. García-Martínez ◽  
Andrés F. Barajas-Solano
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Thermochemical Conversion ◽  
Chemical Components ◽  
High Carbon ◽  
Microalgal Biomass ◽  
Microalgae Biomass ◽  
End Products ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Thermochemical Processes

Over the last decades, microalgal biomass has gained a significant role in the development of different high-end (nutraceuticals, colorants, food supplements, and pharmaceuticals) and low-end products (biodiesel, bioethanol, and biogas) due to rapid growth and high carbon fixing efficiency. Therefore, microalgae are considered a useful and sustainable resource to attain energy security while reducing our current reliance on fossil fuels. From the technologies available for obtaining biofuels using microalgae biomass, thermochemical processes (pyrolysis, HTL, gasification) have proven to be processed with higher viability, because they use all biomass. However, the biocrudes obtained from direct thermochemical conversion have substantial quantities of heteroatoms (oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur) due to the complexity of the biomass's content of chemical components (lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins). As a solution, catalyst-based processes have emerged as a sustainable solution for the increase in biocrude production. This paper's objective is to present a comprehensive review of recent developments on catalyst mediated conversion of algal biomass. Special attention will be given to operating conditions, strains evaluated, and challenges for the optimal yield of algal-based biofuels through pyrolysis and HTL.

scholarly journals The Application of Catalytic Processes on the Production of Algae-Based Biofuels: A Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Zuorro ◽  
Janet B. García-Martínez ◽  
Andrés F. Barajas-Solano
Keyword(s):  
Algal Biomass ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Thermochemical Conversion ◽  
High Carbon ◽  
Microalgal Biomass ◽  
Microalgae Biomass ◽  
End Products ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Thermochemical Processes

Over the last decades, microalgal biomass has gained a significant role in the development of different high-end (nutraceuticals, colorants, food supplements, and pharmaceuticals) and low-end products (biodiesel, bioethanol, and biogas) due to rapid growth and high carbon fixing efficiency. Therefore, microalgae are considered a useful and sustainable resource to attain energy security while reducing our current reliance on fossil fuels. From the technologies available for obtaining biofuels using microalgae biomass, thermochemical processes (pyrolysis, HTL, gasification) have proven to be processed with higher viability, because they use all biomass. However, because of the complexity of the biomass (lipids, carbohydrates , and proteins), the obtained biofuels from direct thermochemical conversion have large amounts of heteroatoms (oxygen, nitrogen , and sulfur). As a solution, catalyst-based processes have emerged as a sustainable solution for the increase in biocrude production. This paper's objective is to present a comprehensive review of recent developments on catalyst mediated conversion of algal biomass. Special attention will be given to operating conditions, strains evaluated, and challenges for the optimal yield of algal-based biofuels through pyrolysis and HTL.

scholarly journals BIOFUELS AS PROMISING FUELS

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladan Mićić ◽  
Pero Dugić ◽  
Zoran Petrović ◽  
Milorad Tomić
Keyword(s):  
Energy Source ◽  
Renewable Resources ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Technical Issues

The use of fossil fuels results in global warming and pollution. In comparison with fossil fuels biofuels represent an eco-friendly, biodegradable, sustainable, cost-competitive and promising alternative energy source. They contain high energy content and do not contribute to greenhouse effect. Therefore, using cheap or renewable resources as the feedstock for biofuels production has a great potential in terms of a major contribution to future energy supply. The production and use of biofuels is already well established and a further promotion of these fuels such as lipid biofuels (bioethanol, pure plant oils and biodiesel) and gas biofuels (biomethane, biohydrogen) mainly depends on non-technical issues, such as policies and cost–effectiveness. Biofuels will definitely stay for the foreseeable future and still can continue to provide the earth and the human population with a relatively clean source of energy with several benefits such as economic benefits of providing employment and health benefits of reduced carbon emissions, leading to cleaner air. With increasing sophistication of technology and intense research and development done, one can safely infer that biofuel will become more appealing and applicable for use on a globally commercial level. As such, biofuel is acknowledged as the Earth’s future energy source. Until a newer and cleaner energy source is discovered, scientists will definitely persist in researching and enhancing biofuels to make them more cost-effective, while still being environmentally friendly.

scholarly journals RESEARCH ON HARVESTING OF MICROALGAE CHLORELLA SP. BY ELECTROCHEMICAL FLOTATION METHOD USING CORROSIVE ELECTRODES

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4C) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ha Vinh Hung
Keyword(s):  
Current Density ◽  
Colloidal Stability ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Iron Electrode ◽  
Aluminum Electrode ◽  
Microalgal Biomass ◽  
Flotation Process ◽  
Chlorella Sp ◽  
Commercial Scale ◽  
Microalgae Biomass

Microalgae are a promising feedstock for biodiesel production. Harvesting of microalgal biomass is still a bottleneck to its commercial scale application, due to small cell size, low culture densities, colloidal stability and thus economic disadvantage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomass separation of the small size microalgae Chlorella sp. by electrochemical flotation process with rectangle electrodes using aluminum or iron plates. The most effective conditions for this experiment involved the use of an aluminum electrode for 30 min with a current density of 1.5 mA/cm2, whereas the iron electrode has been used ineffectively with the same of conditions. The effect of current density (0.5–3 mA/cm2), concentration of microalgae biomass (0.29–1.5 g/L), and electrolyte (0–2 g/L) for aluminum electrode were analyzed. The highest recovery efficiency of 90 % was obtained for Chlorella sp. at 1.5 mA/cm2 in 30 min and concentration of microalgae biomass of 0.74 - 1.5 g/L with power consumption of 1.36 kWh/kg.  The electrochemical flotation process with aluminum electrodes could be a possible harvesting step at commercial scale for microalgal biomass production.

Cost-effective biodiesel production from wet microalgal biomass by a novel two-step enzymatic process

2018 ◽  
Vol 268 ◽  
pp. 583-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjin He ◽  
Tao Wu ◽  
Xiaofei Wang ◽  
Bilian Chen ◽  
Feng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Enzymatic Process ◽  
Microalgal Biomass

scholarly journals Microalgae Cultivation in Photobioreactors Aiming at Biodiesel Production

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateus S. Amaral ◽  
Carla C.A. Loures ◽  
Fabiano L. Naves ◽  
Gisella L. Samanamud ◽  
Messias B. Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Biomass Productivity ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Biodiesel Synthesis ◽  
Microalgae Biomass ◽  
Increase Productivity ◽  
Bad Weather ◽  
Micro Organisms

The search for a renewable source as an alternative to fossil fuels has driven the research on new sources of biomass for biofuels. An alternative source of biomass that has come to prominence is microalgae, photosynthetic micro-organisms capable of capturing atmospheric CO2 and accumulating high levels of lipids in their biomass, making them attractive as a raw material for biodiesel synthesis. Thus, various studies have been conducted in developing different types of photobioreactors for the cultivation of microalgae. Photobioreactors can be divided into two groups: open and closed. Open photobioreactors are more susceptible to contamination and bad weather, reducing biomass productivity. Closed photobioreactors allow greater control against contamination and bad weather and lead to higher rates of biomass production; they are widely used in research to improve new species and processes. Therefore, many configurations of closed photobioreactors have been developed over the years to increase productivity of microalgae biomass.

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