Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Author: Kamnee Boojhawon
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
Executive Summary
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
Author’s Profile
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.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
Papers of Comparison
Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels production
Executive Summary
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
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.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Executive Summary
Author’s Profile
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.
Papers of Comparison
Microalgae are highly efficient as a raw material for the production of biodiesel.
Executive Summary
Such that Microalgae have advantages over land-based organisms for harvesting energy.
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
Also, microalgae will grow on non-arable or even arid land without any need for freshwater in cultivation.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Background
The 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.
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
Executive Summary
The transesterification reaction consists of transforming triglycerides into fatty acid alkyl esters, in
the 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).
Background
Due to high oil prices and the competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources, such as palm and
Background (contd)
soybeans, due to the world’s food crisis, an alternative source of biodiesel had to be thought of.
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
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.
Paper Comparison
Known as the fastest growing plant species in the world,
Critical Comments
their compositions of lipids are somewhat similar to
Personal Comments
References
petroleum molecules and scientists have figured out how to
transform these lipids into biofuels.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Background (contd)
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
The flow chart to the left shows the different
Executive Summary
biofuels from microalgae cultivation.
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
The diagram to the right depicts the production
Critical Comments
of biodiesel from the growth of the microalgae
Personal Comments
References
in saline water to the harvest and hence
extraction of oil.
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.
Author’s Profile
According to the studies in this article, microalgae seems to be the only source of renewable biodiesel that has the
Papers of Comparison
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.
Executive Summary
Some microalgae species were screened in order to choose the best one(s), both in terms of quality and quantity as oil
Background
source for biofuel production.
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
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:
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
Author’s Profile
microalgae, when grown under nitrogen shortage, show a great increase (~50%) in oil quantity.
Papers of Comparison
The fatty acid profile also was determined for all microalgae and the results are presented in the table 3.
Executive Summary
All microalgal lipids are mainly composed of unsaturated fatty acids (50–65%) and a significant percentage of palmitic
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
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.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Renewable fuels from algae: an answer to debatable land based fuels.
Author’s Profile
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.
Papers of Comparison
Executive Summary
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
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
Critical Comments
and biodiesel crops are utilizing
Personal Comments
huge land area except for algal
biodiesel production.
References
Table 5: Water footprint, land use and biofuel yield of various energy crop.
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
Author’s Profile
only alternative to current biofuel as they do not require arable land.
Papers of Comparison
Their capability to grow in industrial, municipal and agricultural wastewaters and seawater overcome the
Executive Summary
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
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.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Comparison of papers:
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
Gouveia and Oliveira and Singh et al. both diverge towards the same point that microalgae should be the current raw
materials for biofuel productions.
Executive Summary
Gouveia and Oliveira studied few microalgae species to find out which one has the highest oil content and also
Background
differentiated among the oil yield in other different sources of biodiesel.
Background (contd)
The result was such that microalgae were the most highly efficient one in terms of oil content.
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
The culturing system of the microalgae was both indoor (airlift bioreactors) and
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
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
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
biodiesel.
In short, both articles summarises in terms of microalgae currently being promoted as the ideal third generation biofuel
Personal Comments
feedstock as they have a rapid growth rate, CO2 fixation ability and high production capacity of lipids.
References
Also, they also do not compete with food or feed crops, and they can be produced on non-arable land.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
Executive Summary
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
Critical Comments
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.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
Personal Comments
Author’s Profile
The question was: Are Microalgae the raw material for the production of biodiesel?
Papers of Comparison
And the research made in the two articles discussed was fair and answered the question with
Executive Summary
evidences from studies.
Background
Environmental problems, high price of diesel, ozone depletion, land use for fuel among other
problems have been solved by the studies of the article.
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
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.
Microalgae as a raw material for biodiesel production
References
Author’s Profile
Papers of Comparison
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.
Executive Summary
Background
Background (contd)
Gouveia & Oliveira
Summary
Summary (contd)
Singh et al.
Summary
Summary (contd)
Paper Comparison
Critical Comments
Personal Comments
References
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.