MICROALGAE-BASED FEEDSTOCK FOR COMMODITY BIO PRODUCTS

Introduction

Algae are commonly classified into microalgae and microalgae represent an

exceptionally diverse but highly specialized group of micro-organisms adapted to various

ecological habitats. They are a diverse group of organisms that arise in many natural habitats

and estimates of the number of algal range from 350,000 to 1,000,000 species. The

organizational structure of microalgae can only be identified using a microscope since they

are defined as being monocellular. Microalgae grew rapidly by utilizing the available carbon

dioxide and converting it into oxygen by means of photosynthesis. The first glimpse of

microalgae was reported a long time ago in oceans. They can live on both land and water

because they have exhibited the capability of surviving even in the harshest of environmental

conditions.

Microalgae has been known for its benefits many years ago but is only lately that

innovative technologies using microalgae began to emerge. Microalgae actually grow rapidly

with small amounts of water and nutrients in comparison rather than the plants that grow on

land. For instance, 1 kg of algal biomass only required 333 litres of water compared to soy

which needs 2,204 litres to produce the same amount. In facts, microalgae can also grow on

industrial wastewater by using their excess nutrients in which they can purify the wastewater

environmentally safe with minimal water utilization. Besides, microalgae have been

considered as a sustainable feedstock for the bio-refinery of the future because microalgae

can also sequester the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and from flue gasses

released by industries.
 Furthermore, microalgae has the potential for manufacturing bio-based chemicals of

pharmaceutical and nutraceutical interest as they possess certain medicinal properties, as a

function of their composition. Another ways of making microalgae abundant in production is

by using the cultivation of microalgae technique. For example, cultivation of microalgae on a

large scale for bio-diesel production was likely to produce 20 times more bio-diesel than the

traditional bio-diesel crops such as rapeseed, soya, and jatropha.

There are a few features that make microalgae a source of attraction among

researchers which are microalgae can produce a range of value added products such as lipids,

carbohydrates, proteins and pigments which can be improved under stressed environmental

conditions. Next, microalgae is able to introduce stable isotopes into products that are

manmade from them and there is only a few numbers of species have been identified till date

making it an interesting domain to be explored. There is a way for reducing the cost which is

by deriving multiple products in a single cycle as downstream processing involved in

producing these value-added products is high.

Value-added Products Obtained from Microalgae

The research of microalgae has always been about producing of biofuels in which the

process remains costly and makes it economically non-feasbile. However, a lot of high-value

products have already been identified and marketed. In that case, there is always a possibility

of discovering additional products which are of high economic value with the emergence of

newer algal growth technologies. Few value-added products obtained from microalgae are

lutein, astaxanthin, β-carotene, zeaxanthin, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and

eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), lycopene and phycobiliproteins. Lutein could be obtained from

microalgae depends on various environmental conditions like pH, irradiance, temperature,

salinity and the quantity of available nitrogen. A few example of The microalgae commonly

used for producing lutein include Chlorella zofingiensis, Muriellopsis sp., Scenedesmus

almeriensis, Chlorella protothecoides, Neospongiococcus gelatinosum and Chlorococcum

citriforme. While for astaxanthin, certain microalgae like Chlorella zofingiensis and

Haematococcus pluvialis who produced 35 mg/g of astaxanthin with an approximate market

value of 1.8 US$ for 1,000 mg of astaxanthin have been successfully employed in producing

astaxanthin commercially. Other than that, β-carotene has been used in industry as an

antioxidant, a coloring agent and as a vitamin-A supplement in which the most commonly

used microalgae for production of β-carotene are Scenedesmus almeriensis, Dunaliella

bardawil and Dunaliella salina (D. salina). Zeaxanthin typically found in egg yolk, corn,

orange and berries can be found in Scenedesmus almeriensis and Nannochloropsis oculata.

Furthermore, the most common algae used for the production of Docosahexaneoic Acid

(DHA) and Eicosapentaneoic Acid (EPA) are Isochrysis galbana, Chlorella pyrenoidosa,

Chlorella ellipsoidea, Schizochytrium, Ulkenia and Crypthecodinium. While for lycopene, it

cannot be produced by animals and is considered as one of the most influential antioxidants

and an effective sunscreen agent. Hence, the microalgae commonly used for producing

lycopene include Chlorella marina which exhibited higher antioxidant. The last one which is

Phycobiliproteins in which the major sources include Spirulina sp., Arthrospira platensis, and

Amphanizomenon floa-aquae.
Global Market of Value Added Compounds Obtained from Microalgae

Microalgae are rich sources of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. There are many

benefits that can be obtained from microalgae which include Microalgal Biomass as Human

Feed, Microalgal Biomass as Fish, Animal and Poultry Feed, Microalgal Biomass in the Field

of Cosmetics, Microalgal Biomass in the Field of Pharmaceuticals, Microalgal Biomass in the

Field of Biodiesel Production and Microalgal Biomass as Biofertilizers.

In Microalgal Biomass as Human Feed, microalgae are rich sources of proteins, lipids

and carbohydrate. They consist of abundant composition in proteins (up to 70% of dry

weight), vitamins and essential fatty acids. Hence, they have been used as a source of food

for humans in japan, China, Africa and Mexico. The most commonly sold food-microalgae

are Chlorella and Spirulina since they can grow faster. The biomass gained from Spirulina

has also been used for the extraction of phycocyanin. Next, the biomass obtained from

microalgae has been used as a feedstock for animals ranging from fish to farm animals has

grown rapidly in the past few decades. The commonly used species of microalgae for animal

feed are Chaetoceros, Nannochloropsis, Chlorella, Isochrysis, Phaeodactylum, Dunaliella,

Scenedesmus, Thalassiosira and Skeletonema. In pharmaceuticals field, the most frequently

used microalgae for the production of bioactive compounds, of pharmaceutical interest,

include Dunaliella, Haematococcus, Arthrospira (Spirulina), Chlorella and Nostoc. In

microalgal research, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was found to be one of the most vital

microalgae that have been employed in the production of pharmaceutical proteins

(erythropoietin, interferon β insulin and immunoglobin A). Besides, a bioactive compound

named Cyanovirin obtained from the biomass of Nostoc responded positively for treating
symptoms of HIV and influenza A (H1N1). Table 1 shows the variety of the value added

compounds produced by microalgal species for pharmaceutical purposes.

Table 1: Microalgal Species Producing High-value Compounds for Pharmaceutical

Purposes.

Furthermore, biodiesel can be manufactured from oils or lipids obtained from

microalgal biomass. When compared to other feedstock, microalgae has the capability to

multiply at numerous rates and increase in a variety of temperatures and environments and

the oil content they yield can be very high (up to 80% of dry weight). Microalgae biodiesel

does not contain sulfur or aromatics which helps in the substantial decrease of carbon

monoxide and particulate matter emissions on explosion.

Microalgal biomass as biofertilizers contain nutrients that are essential for plant

growth. Fertilizers are important in improving agriculture thereby increasing production.

Arable land is being used for the cultivation of crops which resulting in the loss of nutrients

that is essential for the plants. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the most common nutrients
incorporated into fertilizers. When compared to unfertilized control, a study showed that the

dry powder of Chlorella vulgaris was considered to be a suitable substrate for germinating the

seeds of Lactuca sativa because it significantly improved the process of germination and also

increased significantly the amount of pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids)

in the lettuce seedlings. Hence, dry algae can be used as plant nutrients as it helps improving

soil fertility.

Microalgae are considered to be an ecologically safe feedstock for biofuels and for

producing products that fetch high commercial value and also is seen as a gateway for a

multibillion industry in the years to come. However, the microalgal industry is still in its

infancy of industrial development. They are considered to produce more oil for biodiesel

development than any other terrestrial plants and also possess the power of converting any

type of wastewater into a low environmental effect effluent which in turn could serve as a

biofertilizer for plants by improving the fertility of the soil. there has been a constant demand

for innovations that are eco-friendly in order to meet the needs of humans with respect to

food, water or fuel which is why the need for this sector to be further developed is rising.

large amount of biomass is needed and upcoming research should take this aspect into

consideration for an efficient extraction of valuable products from microalgae.

 Hence, a biorefinery setup should be taken into consideration such as biomass

productivity, strain used along with their biochemical composition and the possibility of

extracting value added products. Figure 1 below shows a general schema of a microalgal

biorefinery.

Figure 1: General Schema of a microalgal biorefinery.

LIPID COMPOSITION AND EXTRACTION TOWARDS LIPID-BASED

BIOPRODUCT

Introduction

Microalgae are progressively seen as a potential alternative to traditional feedstocks

for biodiesel and biofuels produced from microalgal biomass have received growing

worldwide recognition. However, they are limited and may have economic, social and

environmental impacts. Microalgae cells have the potential to quickly accumulate lipids such

as triacylglycerides that contain fatty acids significant for high value fatty acids (e.g., EPA

and DHA). Processing microalgae for biofuels is different and poses major encounters to

ensure that they are competitive when compared with the other feedstocks. Bsed on their

physical characteristics, biofuels are divided into solid (i.e., biochar), liquid (i.e., vegetable

oil, bioethanol and biodiesel), and gaseous (i.e., biogas, biosyngas, and biohydrogen) fuels.

Mainly, algae have been studied, particularly because of their lipid profile that contains

eicosapentaenoic, arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids. The process of extraction of lipids

from biomass greatly influences the sustainability and efficiency of the entire biofuel system.

Currently, the high costs of the important lipid extraction processes are the primary

difficulties delaying on the commercial application of microalgae-derived biofuel production.

This is due to a high-power-consumption process because lipids are stored in microalgal cells

in which the cell wall is a thick and firm layer composed of complex carbohydrates and

glycoproteins with high mechanical strength and chemical resistance resulting in posing

difficulties for lipid extraction. However, there is currently no standard extraction method for

the determination of the fatty acid content of microalgae since the methods for microalgae

cells are not well established. This initiated a few problems in microlagal biofuel research
due to the bias resulting from various extraction methods. There are current techniques for

the extraction and measurement of microalgal lipids, including classical Bligh & Dyer lipid

extraction, two other chemical extractions using different solvents and sonication, direct

saponification and supercritical CO2 extraction, Nile red lipid visualization method, sulfo-

phospho-vanillin method, and the thin-layer chromatography method. They have their own

competitive advantages and disadvantages. For example, the most used technique is the

organic solvents-based gravimetric method but it needs huge amounts of samples and is time-

consuming and costly to recover solvents also with low selectivity towards desired products. 

Bligh and dyer method is considered to be way more efficient for both wet and dry

biomass. A 95% of lipid extraction was obtained through this method. The ratios of

methanol, chloroform, and water should be 2:1:1.8 which is then was mixed throughly to

form a homogeneous monophasic phase. The water content is insignificant in comparison to

the biomass considering the critical ratios of solvent for the dry route. Different for wet route

due to high water content, methanol, chloroform and water ratio should be 2:2:1.8 for

extraction process. The biphasis layer (lipid dissolved in chloroform and methanol dissolved

in water) formed in the process was separated the homogenization of cells by centrifuge.

Thus, the lipid fraction is separated from chloroform and the methanol from water is

separated by fractional distillation.

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