Literature Review Blog 2: Production of biofuels

Literature Review Blog 2: Production of biofuels

Towards Sustainable Production of Biofuels from Microalgae

As the world’s population increases, the consumption of energy is sky rocketing. It is predicted that the world energy demand will increase by more than 60% in 2030 (Trans et al, 2008). With this exponential growth of energy demand, the world is looking into more energy sustainable practices. Transportation is the one of the fastest growing markets for primary energy consumption and the use of biofuels is the cornerstone to change this dynamic. The ability of algae to fix CO₂ has been proposed as a method of removing CO₂ from flue gases from power plants, and thus can be used to reduce emission (Trans et al, 2008). Although the use and expansion of biofuels is a developing sustainable practice, there is some debate as to whether the production of biofuels is in conflict with food supply.

First generation biofuels, like biodiesel and bioethanol’s, are derived from popular food crops such as sugarcane, sugar beet, maize and wheat.  The use of these crops has sparked a “food versus fuel” controversy. The better choice for an all-around sustainable fuel is from the second generation biofuels which are extracted from microalgae. The use of algae as energy crops has potential, due to their easy adaptability to growth conditions, the possibility of growing either in fresh-or marine waters and avoiding the use of land (Tran et al, 2008).

In order to make a real difference in the use of this fuel, it needs to be applied for large scale productions. One method to meet this goal is to grow suitable biomass species in an integrated biomass production conversion system (IBPCS). This approach is still under study and is very dependent upon the culturing of microalgae, harvesting and processing of biomass.  In the idealized case, the conversion plants are located in or near the biomass growth areas to minimize the cost of transporting biomass to the plants, of which all the non-fuel effluents are recycled to the growth areas (Trans et al, 2008). This is still an ideal and has not been put into practice. However, it shows the great strides engineers and scientist are making in converting the world from conventional, dirty, limiting fuel to a cleaner readily available fuel. A sustainable and profitable biofuel production from microalgae is very possible with more time and investigation.

This study is just the beginning of something beautiful. The idea of using a biomass that can be cultured relatively quickly and easily replenished with ample about of obtainable growth space can change the energy game. This biofuel will take more time to be fully grasp but can start a movement to gradually switch from dirty fuels. I believe this study is feasible with more time and money but think that they should start more small scale then jumping into large industrial size production. This study seems to being showing only the tip of the energy iceberg, leaving many complications submerged. This article in particular is just trying to spread the word of biofuel sustainability and idealize the concept of an IBPCS.

Work Cited

Patil,V., Tran, K., Giselrod, H. 2008. “ Towards Sustainable Production of Biofuels from Microalgae”. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Volume 9, issue 7 pg 1188-1195.