IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v6y2013i11p5869-5886d30323.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microalgae for Biofuels and Animal Feeds

Author

Listed:
  • John Benemann

    (MicroBio Engineering, Inc., 3434 Tice Creek Drive No. 1, Walnut Creek, CA 94595, USA)

Abstract

The potential of microalgae biomass production for low-cost commodities—biofuels and animal feeds—using sunlight and CO 2 is reviewed. Microalgae are currently cultivated in relatively small-scale systems, mainly for high value human nutritional products. For commodities, production costs must be decreased by an order of magnitude, and high productivity algal strains must be developed that can be stably cultivated in large open ponds and harvested by low-cost processes. For animal feeds, the algal biomass must be high in digestible protein and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that can substitute for fish meal and fish oils. Biofuels will require a high content of vegetable oils (preferably triglycerides), hydrocarbons or fermentable carbohydrates. Many different cultivation systems, algal species, harvesting methods, and biomass processing technologies are being developed worldwide. However, only raceway-type open pond systems are suitable for the production of low-cost commodities.

Suggested Citation

  • John Benemann, 2013. "Microalgae for Biofuels and Animal Feeds," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:11:p:5869-5886:d:30323
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/11/5869/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/11/5869/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gambelli, Danilo & Alberti, Francesca & Solfanelli, Francesco & Vairo, Daniela & Zanoli, Raffaele, 2017. "Third generation algae biofuels in Italy by 2030: A scenario analysis using Bayesian networks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 165-178.
    2. Menegazzo, Mariana Lara & Fonseca, Gustavo Graciano, 2019. "Biomass recovery and lipid extraction processes for microalgae biofuels production: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 87-107.
    3. Cheng, Yiwei & Bouskill, Nicholas J. & Brodie, Eoin L., 2019. "Model exploration of interactions between algal functional diversity and productivity in chemostats to represent open ponds systems across climate gradients," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 406(C), pages 121-132.
    4. J. Jed Brown & Probir Das & Mohammad Al-Saidi, 2018. "Sustainable Agriculture in the Arabian/Persian Gulf Region Utilizing Marginal Water Resources: Making the Best of a Bad Situation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Kevin J. Warner & Glenn A. Jones, 2017. "The Climate-Independent Need for Renewable Energy in the 21st Century," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Giostri, A. & Binotti, M. & Macchi, E., 2016. "Microalgae cofiring in coal power plants: Innovative system layout and energy analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 449-464.
    7. Adenike Akinsemolu & Helen Onyeaka & Omololu Fagunwa & Adewale Henry Adenuga, 2023. "Toward a Resilient Future: The Promise of Microbial Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-13, April.
    8. Raslavičius, Laurencas & Striūgas, Nerijus & Felneris, Mantas, 2018. "New insights into algae factories of the future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 643-654.
    9. Dhani S. Wibawa & Muhammad A. Nasution & Ryozo Noguchi & Tofael Ahamed & Mikihide Demura & Makoto M. Watanabe, 2018. "Microalgae Oil Production: A Downstream Approach to Energy Requirements for the Minamisoma Pilot Plant," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    10. Efroymson, Rebecca A. & Pattullo, Molly B. & Mayes, Melanie A. & Mathews, Teresa J. & Mandal, Shovon & Schoenung, Susan, 2020. "Exploring the sustainability and sealing mechanisms of unlined ponds for growing algae for fuel and other commodity-scale products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Hallenbeck, P.C. & Grogger, M. & Mraz, M. & Veverka, D., 2016. "Solar biofuels production with microalgae," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 136-145.
    12. Rashid, Naim & Ur Rehman, Muhammad Saif & Sadiq, Madeha & Mahmood, Tariq & Han, Jong-In, 2014. "Current status, issues and developments in microalgae derived biodiesel production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 760-778.
    13. Xinru Zhang & Hao Yuan & Libo Guan & Xinyu Wang & Yi Wang & Zeyi Jiang & Limei Cao & Xinxin Zhang, 2019. "Influence of Photoperiods on Microalgae Biofilm: Photosynthetic Performance, Biomass Yield, and Cellular Composition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-10, September.
    14. Raeisossadati, Mohammadjavad & Moheimani, Navid Reza & Parlevliet, David, 2019. "Luminescent solar concentrator panels for increasing the efficiency of mass microalgal production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 47-59.
    15. Margarita Ramírez-Carmona & Leidy Rendón-Castrillón & Carlos Ocampo-López & Diego Sánchez-Osorno, 2022. "Fish Food Production Using Agro-Industrial Waste Enhanced with Spirulina sp," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    16. Holbrook, Gabriel P. & Davidson, Zachary & Tatara, Robert A. & Ziemer, Norbert L. & Rosentrater, Kurt A. & Scott Grayburn, W., 2014. "Use of the microalga Monoraphidium sp. grown in wastewater as a feedstock for biodiesel: Cultivation and fuel characteristics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 386-393.
    17. Esveidi Montserrat Valdovinos-García & Juan Barajas-Fernández & María de los Ángeles Olán-Acosta & Moisés Abraham Petriz-Prieto & Adriana Guzmán-López & Micael Gerardo Bravo-Sánchez, 2020. "Techno-Economic Study of CO 2 Capture of a Thermoelectric Plant Using Microalgae ( Chlorella vulgaris ) for Production of Feedstock for Bioenergy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:11:p:5869-5886:d:30323. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.