1. Algae: Future fuel and value
added products
By
Anupama Yadav
Dr. A. M. Lall
Department of Biochemistry and Biochemical Engineering
Jacob School of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Technology and
Sciences
Allahabad
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

2. Energy: Our basic requirement
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

3. Understanding Energy and its socioeconomic significance
• Fuel + Energy+ chemicals for fertilizers = 70%
Economy of the planet
• Funding of this largest economy is 1/30th of
medical research and for algae its 1/100th of that
of agriculture
• Requirement of Energy, rate so high that we
would burn petroleum accumulated over 300
million years in less than 200 years or in less than
Eight Generations of Human beings.
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

4. Biofuels
60% of Fossil
Fuels used
Energy
crisis
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

5. First Generation
•from sugar, starch, vegetable oil or animal
fats
•used conventional technology
•criticized for diverting food from the
human food chain
•Leads to food shortage and price rise
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

6. Comparison of some sources of
Biodiesel
S. No
Crop
Oil Yield
(L/ha/yr)
Land area needed
M ha
1
Corn
172
1540
2
Soybean
446
594
3
Canola
1190
223
4
Jatropha
1892
140
5
Coconut
2689
99
6
Oil Palm
5950
45
7
Microalgae
136,900
2
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

7. Second Generation
• from non-food crops.
• Does not divert food away from the animal
or human food chain.
• needs agricultural land for cultivation
• Low yield per hectare cultivation
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

8. Third Generation
• Algae are low-input, high-yield feedstock to produce
biofuel.
• Fastest growing photosynthesizers
• Very efficient biological system for harvesting solar
energy
• 100 tonnes of algal biomass fixes approx. 183 tonnes
of CO2
• Store energy in form of Lipids and oils
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

9. Oil content of some algae
S. No.
Microalgae
Oil Content (% dry
weight)
1
Botrycoccus Braunii
25-75
2
Chlorella sp.
28-32
3
Crypthecodinium cohnii
20
4
Cylindrotheca sp.
16-37
5
Dunaleilla primolecta
23
6
Isochrysis sp.
25-33
7
Monallanthus salina
>20
8
Nannochloris sp.
20-25
9
Nannochloropsis sp.
31-68
10
Neochloris oleoabundans
35-54
11
Nitzschia sp.
45-47
12
Phaeodactylum tricornutum
20-30
13
Schizochytrium sp.
50-77
14
Tetraselmis sueica
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]
15-23

10. Advantage of algal biodiesel
•
•
•
•
Degrades four times faster than diesel
Higher flash point for safety
Can be used in existing diesel engines
Sulphur free, less CO, HC, particulate matter
and aromatic compounds emissions
• Biodiesel is carbon neutral
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

11. Algal oil percentage and physico-chemical
properties
Samples
Oil Percentage
(w/w)
pH
Density
g/cm
Viscosity at
40ᵒC
(Mm2/sec)
Nonsaponifiable
fat (%)
Tolypothrix
12.78
7
0.857
4.1
0.137
Pithophora
10.37
7
0.873
4.2
0.181
Spirogyra
14.82
7
0.884
4.4
0.232
Hydrodictiyon
13.58
6
0.868
3.9
0.231
Rhizoclonium
11.64
7
0.889
4.3
0.237
Cladophora
11.76
6
0.892
3.8
0.244
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

12. Current approach for Biodiesel
extraction
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

13. Requirement for value added products
bottleneck in extracting value added products
from algae is to separate the different fractions
without damaging one or more of product
fractions
Till now the focus was on obtaining only one
product
Focus in obtaining the products should be on cell
disruption to release the products or to make
them available for extraction
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

14. Proposed approach for biodiesel
extraction
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

15. Value added products
• Current scenario:
– Nutraceuticals including carotenoids like beta
carotenes and asaxanthine commercially sold at
value $8 billion worldwide
– Kelp and other sea weeds prominently used in
different cultures for food and cosmetic purposes
– Benefits from Spirulina are widely known
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

16. Future Prospects
Industrial fine chemicals and bulk products e.g. fats
polyunsaturated fatty acids, oils natural dyes, sugars pigments,
antioxidants, high value bioactive compounds and biomass
Ranging from simple dried Fucus for home baths to high value
spa & cosmetics ranges
Phlorotannins(weight management, anti-inflammatory),
fucoidan(immunomodulatory, antimicrobial) ,
fucoxanthin(weight management)
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

17. References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Vanthoor-Koopmans M., Wijffels R. H., Barbosa M.J and Eppink M.H.M., Biorefinery
of microalgae for food and fuel, Bioresour. Technol. (2012),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.10.135
Bajhaiya A.K., Mandotra S.K., Suseela M.R., Toppo K., and Ranade S., Algal Biodiesel:
the next generation biofuel for India, Asian J. Exp. Biol.Sci. Vol I (4) 2010:728-739
Kumar P., Suseela M.R. and Toppo K., Physico-Chemical Characterization of Algal oil:
a Potential Biofuel, Asian J. Exp. Biol. Sci. Vol 2(3) 2011: 493-497
Mata T. M., Martins A.A. and Caetano N.S., microalgae for Biodiesel Production and
other applications: A review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14(2010) 217232
Mayfield S., The Green Revolution 2.0: the potential of algae for the production of
biofuels and bioproducts, Genome 56: 551-555(2013)
Chishti Y., Biodiesel from microalgae, Biotechnology Advances 25(2007) 294-306
Naikwade P.V., Bansode R.P., and Sankpal S.T., Biofuels: Potential, Current Issues and
Future Trends, Journal of Today’s Biological Sciences : Research & Review Vol.1,(1)
(2012) 186-198
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]

18. Thank You
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Photo credit: Beth Rasala, UC San Diego
© [Anupama.Yadav] [2014]