An overview of algae bioethanol production

Abstract

SUMMARYBecause of rapid growth in population and industrialization, worldwide ethanol demand is increasing continuously. The first‐generation and second‐generation biofuels are unable to meet the global demand of bioethanol production because of their primary value of food and feed. Therefore, algae are among the most potentially significant sources of sustainable biofuels in the future of renewable energy because of the accumulating high starch/cellulose and because they are widely distributed in nature. The focus of this paper is to review the production and recent advances in research and development in the algae bioethanol, including pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation of algae biomass. Despite the many developments made in the recent years, commercialization of algal bioethanol remains challenging chiefly because of the techno‐economic constraints. Technological breakthroughs in all major aspects must be overcome before it can be a successfully large‐scale and commercialized product. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biochemical characterization of microalgal biomass from freshwater species isolated in Alberta, Canada for animal feed applications

“…The former species being good at producing starch (52-64% of total CHO) while the latter accumulated very little starch (~5% of total CHO). While all microalgae produce hydrocarbons as energy and carbon stores, some groups of microalgae have a preference for starch rather than lipid accumulation and these species are gaining attention as potential feedstocks for bioethanol production [59]. The fact that C. vulgaris biomass used in this study contained CHO composed of a roughly equal mixture of both starch (52% of total CHO) and fiber (48% of total CHO) is in agreement with Matsumoto et al [60].…”

Energy Sustainability by Biomass

“…This productivity from algae is five times higher than that achieved from oil palm, the highest yielding oil crop plant (Day et al 2012). In addition, algae have no lignin and low hemicellulose levels, resulting in an increased hydrolysis efficiency, higher fermentation yields and thus reduced cost (Li et al 2014). Moreover, algal biomass can be harvested and processed by multiple ways to obtain biofuel (Abdelaziz et al 2013).…”

Production of Bioethanol from microalga (Chlorella vulgaris)

“…Physical, chemical, and biological process es have b een used f or pretreatm ent of algae mat erials (Li et al, 2014).…”