Studies On the Role of Microalgae As a Source of Fatty acids Ethanol and other Biofuels

Abstract

Apart from the nuclear and water energy, it is estimated that about 90% of the world energy requirement comes from petrochemicals, coals and natural gases. The world total population is about 750 billion and by the end of 2050 it may reach up to 10 billions. This increasing population will impact on the existing energy and may lead to create the energy crisis. The world would proceed towards the third world war due to depletion of energy reserve from fossil fuels. The fossil fuels also increase pressure on environment by causing global warming and health effect on all habitats on the globe. newlineWith this premise, it is very essential to identify novel technologies for untrapped renewable energy resources. Scientific community worked on the first generation biomass (starch based biomass) the second generation biomass (lignocellulosic material) and then the third generation biomass i.e. algae as a source of energy. The third generation biomass could be a better renewable feedstock for biofuel production, as it does not involves food vs. fuel conflict. newlineMicroalgae is a most primitive organisms on the earth and are responsible the organic evolution on our earth. It is also one of the better feedstock for biofuel production, algae store about 50% of oil to their body mass weight. The algal oil can be extracted with solvent systems and which then converted into biodiesel by transesterification reaction. Biodiesel is only alternative to the petroleum based fuel. newlineThe second aspect of microalgae biomass was to produce bioethanol by fermentation process. In this process microalgal biomass was saccharified to generate free sugar which was fermented by yeast under anaerobic condition for bioethanol production. newlineIn this study Microalgae was isolated from local river Godavari and identified as Coelastrella vacuolata MF696161. The isolated alga was optimized with cultural conditions and the optimum biomass was obtained. The oil was extracted with solvent using hexane and ether and the oil content of cell biomass was recorded about 26