Energy innovation potential of oleaginous microalgae

Abstract

Algae have contributed greatly to the creation of the Earth’s environment and the development of human civilization. Currently, microalgae are considered to be among the most promising sources for biofuel. Most microalgae accumulate triacylglycerols; however, fatty acid methyl esters produced from triacylglycerols by transesterification have critical end-use issues. Hydrocarbons produced by Botryococcus and Aurantiochytrium are the most suitable algal oils for replacing existing transportation fuels and are highly compatible with existing petroleum infrastructure. Over the years, many technologies have been investigated for achieving sustainable biofuel production using oleaginous microalgae; however, existing techniques of algal fuel production are suitable mainly for small-scale procedures or for the recovery or removal of high-value products. This situation strongly influences life cycle assessment studies for algal fuel production, and published life cycle assessments show different and discrepant results – reliable data on inputs and outputs from industrial-scale experiments are needed for solving these problems. The estimated cost of algal fuel production is still high compared with that of fossil crude oils. The integration of water treatment and algal biomass production, in a coupled hybrid production system comprising of phototrophic and heterotrophic algae, has tremendous potential for improving the economy of future algal fuels.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to thank University of Tsukuba, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan Society for Promoting Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization for funding to support our research activities. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.