Introduction

What is algae?
Algae are a diverse group of aquatic, photosynthetic organisms, generally categorized as either
macroalgae or microalgae.

What is biofuel?
Biofuel is a fuel derived from biomass that is plant or algae material or animal waste. The liquid
biofuel in greatest production is ethanol. In U.S., ethanol biofuel is blended with gasoline to
produce ‘gasohol’ a fuel that is 10% ethanol.
Two types of biofuel
1. Ethanol – It is made by fermenting starches and sugars like sugar beet, sugarcane, cassava,
corn.
2. Biodiesel – It is made by combining alcohol with plant oils like palm, coconut, canola,
algae.
Three types of biofuel based on origin
1. First generation – It is derived from fermentation of sugars, vegetable oil- based fuels.
2. Second generation – These are the cellulosic based biofuels obtained from non-food crops
materials like wood, leaves, straw, etc.
3. Third generation – These biofuels are microorganisms biofuels and algae- based biofuels.
Third generation biofuels are better than first generation biofuels because they reduce
atmospheric CO2. Also, algae yield is multiple times higher than other biofuel crops.

Selection of algae
There are 3,00,000 species of algae. Depending on species, microalgae produce many different
kinds of lipids, hydrocarbons and other complex oils. Not all algal oils are satisfactory for making
biodiesel, but suitable oils occur commonly. Research is done on the small number of species
which have been found to accumulate susbstantial quantities of lipids. The species include
Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, Dunaliella Salina and chlorella as well as botrycoccus braunii which
contains 60% lipids.

Process applied to grow algae biofuel

1. Algae cultivation
2. Algae harvesting
3. Oil extraction
 4. Transesterification

Algae cultivation inputs

1. CO2 : As with all photosynthetic organisms, algae use CO2 as a carbon source.
Approximately 1.8 tons of CO2 needed to grow 1 ton of biomass. Natural dissolution of
CO2 from air to water is not enough. This could be done by bubbling air through the water.
Other method is to used pure CO2 from a flue gas of a boiler which contains about 4% to
15% CO2. Amount of flue gas needed per hectare will differ per species of algae, and will
also vary throughout the day with light intensity and temperature.
2. Light : Light gets absorbed by the algae, so the higher the algae concentration, the less
the deep light enters into the algae broth. Therefore, all algaculture systems are shallow
and optimizes to catches as much light as possible
3. Nutrient : Besides CO2 and light, algae requires nutrients to grow such as Nitrogen and
Phosphorous. They can be supplied in the form of fertilizers which is costly. Other cheaper
sources is the effluent wastewater.
4. Temperature : In subtropical region, algae have a growth season. In winter, the
production rate of algae drops. The surplus heat of the industry could be used to optimize
the temperature of medium in which the algae grow. On the other hand, closed systems
can get too hot and require cooling, which can be done by heat exchanger or by spraying
water.

Growth Methods
Algae production systems can be organized into two distinct categories : open ponds and closed
photo-bioreactors.

Open system
Open pond reactors are the simplest growth system that can be built. CO2 can be bubbled
through the water to increase the level of dissolved gas. The simplicity of the systems leads to
problems with controlling the growth environment and operating conditions delivering less than
ideal algae yields. Other growth conditions such as temperature and PH are also difficult to
manipulate. Also, nutrient and oxygen production affect the PH levels in the water. In most open
systems, growth rates are generally lower for open ponds because sunlight energy is diminished
below the water surface leaving algae cells at the bottom of the pond with little energy for
growth. Mixing can be implemented to allow algae cells adequate exposure to photons with the
help of rotating arm or paddle wheels.

Closed Bioreactors
Closed bioreactors introduce a host of culture media, where temperature, gas exchange and
other competition problems are regulated in various ways. Closed bioreactors can distribute sun
light over a larger surface area, which can be up to 10 times higher than the footprint area of the
reactor. Even if the closed photobioreactor has a higher harvesting efficiency (more biomass) and
a good control on culture parameters (temperature, pH, CO2 concentration etc.) its capital costs
remain higher (around 10 times) than those of open ponds. Different models of photobioreactors
(indoor or outdoor) have been developed including tubular, flat plate, bubble column. Most
efficient and widely used photobioreactor is tubular reactor

 Bubble Column Reactor

It is a vertical column reactor. These reactors offer continuous operation, a high level of
controllability and elevated biomass concentrations, which results in lower space requirements
and lower harvesting costs per ton of algae. When putting several systems close to each other ,
they will cast a shadow on each other.

 Tubular Reactor
Using a reactor consisting of long horizontal tubes eliminates this problem. However, this has its
own scaling problem. Algae will consume nutrients and CO2 while producing O2 , so growth
conditions deteriorate further along the tube.

 Flat Photobioreactor
To make optimal use of surface area receiving solar radiation, a flat photobioreactor can be
applied. This system can potentially yield a much higher biomass concentration, but its still under
development.

Algae Harvesting
Harvesting has been claimed to contribute 20–30 percent to the total cost of producing the
biomass.

 Settling & Sedimentation

Once a day the settling pond is filled with a fully grow algae culture and drained at the end of
that day, leaving a concentrated biomass volume at the bottom, which is stored for further
processing. Thus, about 85 percent of the algal biomass was found to be concentrated in the
bottom of the pond at 3 percent dry matter, although this will depend on the species used.
Settling pond require significant additional space.

 Flocculation
Flocculation is a method of separating algae from the medium by using chemicals to force the
algae to form lumps. Alum and ferric chloride are chemical flocculants used to harvest algae. This
procedure has some limitations, chief among which is the difficultly in separating the algae from
the added chemicals.
  Centrifugation
Centrifugation is a procedure of separating algae from the medium by a density difference. This
method is fast and reliable. This method is limited to small scale operations.

Extraction
 Chemical solvent extraction
Chemical solvents method is by far the most commonly used. In laboratory scale studies, even if
chloroform-methanol blends have been extensively used with high extraction yields up to 83% (g
lipid/g dry weight). Less polar solvent like hexane are often preferred because of their lower
toxicity and affinity for nonlipid contaminants. Other less toxic solvents like alcohols (ethanol,
octanol) have been tested but the yield of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) obtained was up to 5
times lower than with n-hexane extraction.

 Physicochemical extraction
Some physicochemical techniques like microwave, autoclaving, osmotic shock, bead beating,
homogenization, freeze-drying, French press, grinding and sonication can be used for microalgae
cell disrupting in order to recover lipids. Using microwave or bead-beating seems to be the most
promising techniques to increase the lipid yield.

 Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction

Supercritical CO2 has the advantages of being not toxic, easy to recover and usable at low
temperatures (less than 40˚C). However, this technique requires expensive equipment and a
huge amount of energy to reach high pressures. Using supercritical CO2 extraction at operating
temperature of 60˚C and pressure of 30 MPa to extract lipids from microalgae obtained a higher
extraction yield of lipids.

Transesterification
The transesterification reaction is used to convert TAGs extracted from algae biomass to fatty
acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Transesterification can be performed via catalytic or non-catalytic
reaction systems using different heating systems that are required to initiate the reaction.
Transesterification of algal oil can be achieved with ethanol and sodium ethanolate serving as
the catalyst. The products of these reactions are typically separated by adding ether and salt
water to the solution and mixing well. Biodiesel is then separated from the ether by a vaporizer
under a high vacuum.
Acid-catalyzed transesterification is another route that can be used to produce biodiesel from
algae. The replacement of soluble bases by liquid-acid catalysts, such as H2SO4, HCl, or H2PO4, is
also considered an attractive alternative as the acidic catalysts are less sensitive to the presence
of water and free acids. Though acid catalysts have these advantages, they are not currently
preferred due to their lower activity than the conventional transesterification alkaline catalysts.
Base-catalyzed transesterification is faster, but would leave free fatty acids behind and un-
transesterified; this saponification can result in significant losses due to the water solubility of
the fatty acid soaps. Higher temperatures and longer reaction times are, therefore, generally
required as a result.

Advantages
 Algal fuel is a third-generation fuel so it is better alternative than first generation fuel and
second-generation fuel which is crop based fuel. Also productivity of algal fuel relative to
terrestrial feedstocks.
 According to research, algae have the capability to produce more than 30 times of energy
per unit area than other first and second-generation biofuel crops.
 It does not have negative effects on the global food prices and supply, as it does not
require us to take away pieces of land that are currently used in cultivating food crops.
 Algae requires effluent water for growth. Thus, waste water can be treated. It can also
grow on salt water.
 Benefit of using algae biofuel is that it will consume CO2 in a massive scale, which means
that we will be reducing main contributor to the problems of climate change.
 Algae needs CO2 for the growth which can be supplied by a flue gas of a boiler. Thus, it
recycles the CO2.
 Algal fuel is better alternative of fossil fuels.
 Algal growth is very fast.

Disadvantages
 Whether the algae grow in an open pond or a closed bioreactor, it must have a significant
water source available for it to maximize growth. When you maintain temperatures at
the appropriate levels to encourage this outcome, then liquid begins to evaporate. That
is why biofuel uses much more water than other resources using current technologies.
 We can grow algae in massive quantities only when there is sufficient fertilizer available
to the producers. It would require 15 million metric tons of nitrogen and 2 million metric
tons of phosphorous to create 39 billion liters of biodiesel.
 Current technology is costly because of the energy levels required to circulate gasses and
materials inside bioreactors to encourage growth.
 Although we can harvest some algae strains on a basis, that doesn’t mean we will receive
biofuel immediately. There are several steps that must be followed before this natural
product can become a usable fuel source.

Improving economics of microalgal biodiesel

Cost of producing microalgal biodiesel can be reduced substantially by using a biorefinery based
production strategy, improving capabilities of microalgae through genetic engineering and
advances in engineering of photobioreactors.

 Biorefinery
Like a petroleum refinery, a biorefinery uses every component of the biomass raw material to
produce useable products. Microalgal biomass contains significant quantities of proteins,
carbohydrates and other nutrients. Therefore, the residual biomass from biodiesel production
processes can be used potentially as animal feed. Some of the residual biomass may be used to
produce methane by anaerobic digestion, for generating the electrical power necessary for
running the microalgal biomass production facility. Excess power could be sold to defray the cost
of producing biodiesel.

 Enhancing algal biology

Genetic and metabolic engineering are likely to have the greatest impact on improving the
economics of production of microalgal diesel.
1.Increase photosynthetic efficiency to enable increased biomass yield on light
2. enhance biomass growth rate
3. increase oil content in biomass
4. improve temperature tolerance to reduce the expense of cooling

Conclusion
With the increase of the price of crude oil in the late 00s, blending biodiesel with petrodiesel
appears a sustainable solution to reduce the dependency on oil producing countries. Researchers
are working to engineer super lipids producing microalgae strain in order to increase the yield of
biodiesel. Producing biodiesel by transesterification of lipids remains relatively costly compared
to 1st generation biodiesel. Producing low-cost microalgal biodiesel requires primarily
improvements to algal biology through genetic and metabolic engineering. Use of the biorefinery
concept and advances in photobioreactor engineering will further lower the cost of production.