Environmental risks of large scale cultivation of microalgae: Mitigation of spills

Gressel, Jonathan; Vlugt, Cécile J.B. van der; Bergmans, Hans

doi:10.1016/j.algal.2013.04.002

Cited by 48 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Gressel et al (2013) have added to the discussion on mitigating spills and propose that spills from large-scale cultivations will be inevitable-however, there is an important consideration here regarding the terminology moving forward in this discussion. We expect that implementation of proper standards in prudent farm management should be able to mitigate the chances of large-scale spills into the environment; however, it is widely agreed that microalgae have a relatively high capacity for dispersion (e.g.…”

Section: Regulatory Considerations In the Risk Assessment Of Gm Micromentioning

confidence: 96%

Genetic Engineering for Microalgae Strain Improvement in Relation to Biocrude Production Systems

Stephens

Wolf

Oey

et al. 2015

Biofuel and Biorefinery Technologies

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An advanced understanding of the genetics of microalgae and the availability of molecular biology tools are both critical to the development of advanced strains, which offer efficiency advantages for primary production, and more specifically in the context of production for biocrude and renewable energy. Consequently, we outline the current state of the art in microalgal molecular biology including the available genome sequences, molecular techniques and toolkits, amenable strains for transformation of nuclear and plastid genomes, and the control of transgenes at both transcriptional and translational levels. We also examine some strategies for improvement of expression and regulation. We suggest the primary strategies in strain improvement that are most relevant to biocrude applications; briefly illustrate the process of photosynthesis to enable identification of targets for improvement of net photosynthetic conversion efficiency in mass cultivation; and further discuss how improvement of metabolic systems may also be achieved and benefit production models. Finally, we acknowledge the aspects of prudent risk assessment and consequent regulation that are developing and how our knowledge of natural algae in existing ecosystems, and GM work in conventional agriculture both contribute lessons to these discussions. We conclude that if properly managed, these developments provide significant potential for increasing global capacity for renewable fuel production from microalgae and that these developments could also have benefits for other applications.

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Section: Regulatory Considerations In the Risk Assessment Of Gm Micromentioning

confidence: 96%

Genetic Engineering for Microalgae Strain Improvement in Relation to Biocrude Production Systems

Stephens

Wolf

Oey

et al. 2015

Biofuel and Biorefinery Technologies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, continued enhancements are needed in algal biology, as well as in the areas of algal cultivation, harvesting and processing. In addition, after identifying economically viable biorefinery combinations, environmental risks and resources management analysis should be considered in order to determine the feasibility of the technologies and their combinations in a proposed area [46,52]. In this section the recent advances related to microalgae biorefineries are critically discussed in the light of their large-scale technoeconomic feasibility.…”

Section: Challenges For Microalgae Large-scale Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microalgae biorefineries: The Brazilian scenario in perspective

2017

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Biorefineries have the potential to meet a significant part of the growing demand for energy, fuels, chemicals and materials worldwide. Indeed, the bio-based industry is expected to play a major role in energy security and climate change mitigation during the 21th century. Despite this, there are challenges related to resource consumption, processing optimization and waste minimization that still need to be overcome. In this context, microalgae appear as a promising non-edible feedstock with advantages over traditional land crops, such as high productivity, continuous harvesting throughout the year and minimal problems regarding land use. Importantly, both cultivation and microalgae processing can take place at the same site, which increases the possibilities for process integration and a reduction in logistic costs at biorefinery facilities. This review describes the actual scenario for microalgae biorefineries integration to the biofuels and petrochemical industries in Brazil, while highlighting the major challenges and recent advances in microalgae large-scale production.

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“…In recent years, public awareness on the possible risks of commercial production of algae (especially non-transgenic algae) has increased. There have been suggestions that detailed scientific risk analysis reports for each strain be compiled, prior to largescale cultivation (Gressel et al 2013).…”

Section: Challenges and Economics Associated With Microalgal Co 2 Seqmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the potential of microalgae for CO2 sequestration

Bhola

Swalaha

Kumar

et al. 2014

Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.

181

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An economic and environmentally friendly approach of overcoming the problem of fossil CO 2 emissions would be to reuse it through fixation into biomass. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), which is the basis for the formation of complex sugars by green plants and microalgae through photosynthesis, has been shown to significantly increase the growth rates of certain microalgal species. Microalgae possess a greater capacity to fix CO 2 compared to C 4 plants. Selection of appropriate microalgal strains is based on the CO 2 fixation and tolerance capability together with lipid potential, both of which are a function of biomass productivity. Microalgae can be propagated in open raceway ponds or closed photobioreactors. Biological CO 2 fixation also depends on the tolerance of selected strains to high temperatures and the amount of CO 2 present in flue gas, together with SO x and NO x . Potential uses of microalgal biomass after sequestration could include biodiesel production, fodder for livestock, production of colorants and vitamins. This review summarizes commonly employed microalgal species as well as the physiological pathway involved in the biochemistry of CO 2 fixation. It also presents an outlook on microalgal propagation systems for CO 2 sequestration as well as a summary on the life cycle analysis of the process.

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Environmental risks of large scale cultivation of microalgae: Mitigation of spills

Cited by 48 publications

References 74 publications

Genetic Engineering for Microalgae Strain Improvement in Relation to Biocrude Production Systems

Genetic Engineering for Microalgae Strain Improvement in Relation to Biocrude Production Systems

Microalgae biorefineries: The Brazilian scenario in perspective

Overview of the potential of microalgae for CO2 sequestration

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