Why is it that we are always ready to pay more for importing the fuel that ends up disadvantageous for us in various aspects, but when it comes to investing money in new scientific solutions that will resolve current energy problems, we are always reluctant?
The world’s energy demand is growing at an exponential rate. Even now, fossil fuels are used as a primary source of energy. As a result, fossil fuels are scarce, rising prices of petroleum-based fuels, energy conservation, and increased global warming. Hence, other renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, tidal, and biomass have been gaining much attention worldwide.
We all well know that we can never go back to using carts now to save the environment and economy, but what we can do is produce the fuel which is renewable, biodegradable, low in price, and protects the environment. Economic, Non-toxic, Biodegradable, and renewable energy sources are in our hands. If we had adopted the idea of Fourth generation biofuels, we wouldn’t suffer from high gas prices in 2022. Fourth-generation biofuels are the fusion of gnomically engineered microbes with genetically modified feedstock. Cyanobacteria have been changed to boost oil yield and are utilized to produce bioenergy efficiently. These feedstocks can be cultivated in non-arable land and thus aren’t in competition with food.
Algae can be transformed into various renewable biofuels, such as biogas, bioethanol, biodiesel, photo-biologically produced bio-hydrogen, and bio-oil and syngas via liquefaction and gasification, respectively.
“Takes Little, Gives more”
Light, carbon dioxide, and a few nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) are all photosynthetic microorganisms like microalgae need to grow and create enormous amounts of lipids and carbohydrates, which can then be converted into biofuels and other essential coproducts. Algae’s short harvesting cycle is a valuable feature for its prominence, as it is preferable to other traditional crops harvested once or twice a year.
Is algae a dream organism?
Regarding the manufacture of biofuels, algal biomass has several advantages:
▪ They can grow yearly, resulting in higher algal oil productivity than conventional oil seed crops.
▪ The consumption rate of water needed for cultivation is relatively low.
▪ Herbicides or pesticides are not needed for cultivating algae.
▪ High growth potential.
▪ Their tolerance toward Carbon dioxide is relatively high.
▪ Various wastewater sources containing phosphorous and nitrogen can be used for algae growth with no additional nutrients added.
▪ Algae can grow in extreme conditions like brackish or saline water and coastal seawater.
“Algae giving us our domestic Fuel”
Since algae need a large amount of CO2, we can grow them near the places where the carbon dioxide emission levels are high. This will also help in greenhouse gas reduction, and we would not have to provide extra CO2 to algae. Algae can quickly grow in wastewaters, which can also help reduce the waste and utilize it for a better cause.
So, our neighborhood industry can clean waste and give our vehicles their daily dose of fuel.
Few drawbacks of algal biomass as a feedstock include:
▪ Higher growing cost than conventional crops.
▪ High energy consumption in harvesting accounts for about 20–30% of the entire manufacturing cost.
To produce low-cost microalga biofuels, new biomass harvesting technologies are required, as well as production of a high amount of biomass with maximum oil yield by genetic modification is needed. Once the required microbe is made, the other processes are a walk in the park.
Synthetic biology techniques and metabolic engineering can improve our microbe, increase our biofuel production, and make it sustainable. In conclusion, if we invest in adopting standard techniques for harvesting algae, the bio-refinery concept, photobioreactor design development, and other downstream technologies, it will lower the cost of algal biofuel production, making it a competitive and sustainable energy resource shortly. If that doesn’t work out, there is Always a Better organism or new scientific approaches to get what you want, but it all needs a starting push by authorities and investors.
