57

ALGAL BIO-FUEL AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THE FUTURE OFAUTOMOBILE INDUSTRIES IN INDIA

Gaurav Ninawe and A. S. Ninawe

ABSTRACTTerrestrial and marine algae are known as conventional energy production sources for the future bio-fuel production. It can be a majorsource for liquid and gaseous bio-fuel, further exploration of these renewable resources for bio-fuel production is needed on sustainablebasis. The majority of research has been focused on producing fuels both from microalgae and macroalgae. The bio-fuel produced from thealgal biomass has high acceptance from the Government, public, industries and researchers. However, there is need to rethink onefficient, economical and effective production process for bio-fuel production. There is also a need to address the solution for progressivelyincorporating bio-fuels in automobiles as an alternative for economic and sustainable growth, mitigate with climate change and enhancethe environmental quality. The review highlights the usefulness of algal resources and their relevance in biofuel production, extractionprocess of algal bio-mass, sustainability of production and advantages over the other bio-fuel production resources. Various policy optionsfor biofuel production and their utilization are also suggested in the review.

Keywords: Biomass, terrestrial, marine, bio-fuels, automobile, sustainability, policy; seaweed; algae;

Assistant Professor, Scientist-GDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, SIET, SHUATS, Allahabad

Department of Biotechnology, CGO Complex, Block-2, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003

INTRODUCTIONEnergy is an essential input for economic development of the

country. Globally many alternative energy sources have beenavailable including bio-fuels to some extent. Promotion of bio-fuel is also important to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasesand make the environment sustainable. Bio-fuel production fromthe sustainable biomass is being promoted as an alternative tonon renewable fuels (Weldemichael and Assefa, 2016). It is a greyarea the world being fourth largest energy consumer of crude andpetroleum products. The net oil import dependency of India rosefrom 43% in 1990 to 71% in 2012. It has advantage over petroleumfuels as they can be easily extracted from the biomass, sustainabledue to biodegradable property and its combustion process. Theshare of bio-fuel in automobile market is growing rapidly becauseof its environmental merits resulting into strong growth inagriculture sector for more production and associated products(Kim and Dale, 2005; Demirbas, 2008). In India there is greatabundance and diversity of algae that can act as prime precursormaterial for the sustainable biomass production and use(Chapman and Chapman 1980).

In biomass production researchers are finding the effective wayto grasp the potential energy saved in the biomass generated fromindustry, forest, agricultural, marine and urban solid waste. Theglobal production of oil and gas has been reached at the peakpoint which emphasizes for discovering the alternative source forproduction of oil and gas for future energy source. In the comingyears the depletion of natural resources would compelled for analternative option to fossil fuels, biofuel considering as a leadingenergy source in future, can reduce vehicle emissions, increasesupply of energy and provide income to farmers.

Two groups of algae can be divided by size into macroalgaecommonly known as seaweed and microalgae, microscopic singlecell organisms in size ranging from a few micrometres (µm) to a

few hundred micrometres (Sheehan et al, 1998). Microalgalbiomass is being used for biodiesel, feed and food production.Collection and identification of local microalgal strains wereconducted in the Northern Territory, Australia to identify strainswith high protein and lipid content as potential feedstock foranimal feed and biodiesel production. Microalgae occurs widelyin a variety of natural and man-made environments, as well as insoil and on other organisms. Most microalgae can be found infreshwater and marine habitats such as lakes, rivers, streams,pond, estuary, and coastal area respectively 50,000 species havebeen reported at present and about 30,000 species have beenidentified and analyzed (Richmond, 2004). A variety of freshwateralgae collected from dams, ponds, and streams reported greenmicroalgae predominance. They are belonging to Chlorella sp.,Scenedesmus sp., Desmodesmus sp., Chlamydomonas sp.,Pseudomuriella sp Tetraedron caudatum Graesiella emersonii,and Mychonastes timauensis and possessed high content ofprotein and in lipid contents (Van Thang Duong et al, 2015).These species do not require agricultural land for cultivation andmany species can be easily grown in brackish or salt wateravoiding competition for land. These species can be grown infreshwater for food production unlike terrestrial crops cultivatedfor biofuel (Harvey et al., 2012).

BIOFUEL PRODUCTIONThe production of biofuel is classified into three categories:

first, second and third generation. The first generation fuels,biodiesel and vegetable oils have been produced from the cropplants. The second generation, bioethanol and biohydrogen havebeen produced from agricultural by-products and energy plantswhich requires fertile lands for growth. The biomass for bio-fuelsis made from soybeans, palm, canola and rapeseed. The non-foodbio-feed stocks are considered as feedstock for second generation

The Allahabad Farmer, Vol. LXXIII, No. 4, October - December, 2017

Received 23-05-2017Accepted 06-09-2017

58

biofuels (jatropha, cellulose) The Third generation bio-fuelsproduced has the advantage of getting produce in large biomassin a stipulated time and it doesn't require much land for the growth(Demirbas, 2008; Kang et al, 2014). The marine resources,seaweeds and cyanobacteria are the attractive sources for thethird generation biofuel production, responsible for biogas,bioethanol and biobutanol.

Biofuel production from algae is the emerging opportunity forIndia and it can meet incremental need of rising crude oil pricesand provide solutions of global warming. Thus algal biofuelswould be the substitute for petrodiesel and gasoline sourcingthird generation biofuel algae, which gives superior yields, notdirectly affecting the human food chain.Algal bio-resources alternate to biofuel sources

Relevant technology for utilization of algae or agricultureproducts / wastes by encouraging the supply of raw material thatrequires promotion with capital cost of raw material cultivationneed focus. In recent years the energy production is an importantdriving force of the agriculture development. Agriculturalproduction of methanol from natural gas and synthesis ethanolfrom ethylene is very expensive at present. The simultaneousproduction of bio-ethanol parallel to the bio-methanol from sugarjuice is quite attractive in terms of economic aspects, in the areaswhere hydro-electricity is available at cheaper cost (Demirbas,2009). Marine resources especially seaweed biomass arecurrently used in production of high valuable biomass forrenewable energy as its cellulose content is found to besignificant with less lignin content. The low level of lignin contentis the positive sign of the biomass that could be preceded furtherfor biofuel production. The algal biomass has been tried formethane production by anaerobic digestion process foundeffective utilization for ethanol and butanol production via sugarproduction by enzyme hydrolysis and fermentation by respectivemicrobes. The advantages of seaweeds for biofuel research arethe growth rate of seaweeds and biomass production. Also theland requirement for the cultivation is less as compared toterrestrial plant and there is no requirement of fresh water,pesticides and fertilizers for the growth and high production ofseaweed biomass per acre land can easily be made (MichaelHannon et al, 2010). Production of biofuels from algae is still ina pre-commercial state of technology development. But algae-based biofuels are considered to be a promising upcomingalternative to fossil fuels as they could reduce GHG emissionswhen compared with fossil fuels. Also the algal biofuels haveadditional advantages over traditional biofuels such as higher peracre yields and less competition for arable land. The mainobstacle to a widespread use of algae-based biofuels is the highproduction costs. A number of researchers are working onimproving the production processes and decreasing costs. Thereis need to obtain fuel from algae for which picking up the bestalgae is the prime need for growing the algae, harvesting andgenerating the fuel products. As the bio-fuel has its own meritstowards eco-friendly environment, the effective contribution ofbiofuel in transport sector will lead rapid growth in near future(Swain, 2014).Advantages of Algal Bio-mass

Considering the importance of algae and to solve the "Foodvs. Fuel" problem has lot of advantages as it does not competedirectly with crops grown for food. Algal strains have adaptability

to a range of environment and it can be grown under conditionswhich are unsuitable for conventional crop production in marinewater, wastewater and open ponds. It can make use of marineand waste water can also be grown in desert regions, some algaein ocean environment does not require expensive nutrients forits growth. Algae can lead to wide range of fuel productsbiodiesel, ethanol, methane and hydrogen and algae has manyadvantages in product generation via different routes, biodiesel,ethanol, hydrogen, methane, electricity-where algae biomass isdirectly used for combustion and other hydrocarbon fuel variants,such as gasoline, biobutanol etc (Figure-1). The usefulness ofalgae including extraction and sustainability, combustion processfor energy to biodiesel, fermentation to bioethanol need to beaddressed for automobile friendly biofuel production (John et al.,2014). The algae can be easily cultivated in photo bioreactorsand open ponds. However the disadvantage of the process isthe biofuel produced from this process are less stable than theother processes (Bruton et al., 2009). Algaculture being a newconcept, come up to produce biofuel, as algae produces moreper unit than other bio fuel crops and claimed to yield 10 to 100times more fuel per unit area.

The process for bio-diesel production seen in figure 2.

In developing nations like India, implementation of alternativefuel options is a prime concern to meet up the future oil demands.India needs to give emphasis on utilization of biomass availableand cultivation of oil producing crops which are suitable for theirclimate. The production of biofuels, seaweeds have to becultivated in large-scale, and the processes for extraction are to

Figure- 1: Range of products from algal Bio-fuel

Figure- 2: Process for Biodiesel from algae

Gaurav Ninawe and A. S. Ninawe

59

be studied to attain economical energy needs (Gaurav et al.,2017). India has greater than 70% of the world biodiversity in allthe three levels regarding species, habitat and genetic diversity(McNeely et al., 1990 and Leary et al, 2013). It has about 7,500km coastline with highly unique marine biota. Lateritic cliff, rockypromontories, offshore stalks, long beaches, estuaries, lagoons,spits and bars are the characteristics of Indian coast. IndianOcean thrives number of specific and intra-specific seaweed taxathan Australia and South Africa and approximately, 844 speciesof marine algae belongs to 217 genera reported from the Indiancoast mainly from inter-tidal and deep water regions. (Oza andZaidi, 2000). Recently it was reported that number of genera andspecies of marine algae has been increased as 271 and 1153belongs to four groups of algae namely Chlorophyceae,Phaeophyceae, Rhodophyceae and Cyanophyceae have(Kaliaperumal et at, 2004). Seaweed bio-resources of Indiancoast are being exploited for bio-fuel production. India hasabundant species having rich seaweed bio-diversity (Gaurav etal, 2017).

Indian ecosystem supports to grow seaweeds abundantlyespecially along the Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobarislands (Fig. 3). The seaweeds beds seems to be rich in the areasaround Gujarat, Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Goa, Karwar, Kollam, Varkala,Vizhinjam in Kerala and Chilka in Orissa (Mantri, 2004; Kim,2011).

Being a key contr ibutor of atmospheric carbon byphotosynthesis, the growth of the microbe is much faster thanthe plant and identical to macroalgae. The cyanobacteria are alsowell fitted organisms for genetic modification and the engineeredone has the ability to produce either carbohydrate resource ordirect biofuel from the CO2. The cultivation space can also belimited hence they could be used as a resource for bio-oilextraction by pyrolysis process. The research is being attemptedto achieve the biofuel production for environmental andeconomical needs.

The extraction of energy from seaweed biomass is categorizedbased on its initial drying step. The biodiesel extraction methodsusing dry biomass could be performed by direct combustion,pyrolysis, gasification and finally trans-esterification to biodiesel(Fig. 4). The energy production process from wet biomass couldbe performed by hydrothermal treatments, enzyme hydrolysis,fermentation to bioethanol/ biohydrogen/ biobutanol andanaerobic digestion (Milledge et al, 2014).Sustainable energy production process

Globally the sustainability of the current energy systems isnot clear because of several economic, equity and environmentalissues. Sustainability and protection of land, communities andbiodiversity initiatives are being taken for bio-fuels promotion.These initiatives are the engagement by NGOs, Governmentbodies and private organizations, and combine with public and

Fig 3: Seaweed bio-resources of Indian coast being unexploited for biofuel production

Aalgal biomass has the potential for liquid and gaseousbiofuels, but yet there is no successful economically viablesystem developed for producing biofuel. The research has alsobeen focused on producing fuels from microalgae rather than frommacroalgae with dominance on Cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria arethe diverse group of autotrophic microorganisms, occupies bothin the habitant of marine and freshwater phytoplankton group.

private investments on commercialization of biofuels. Thecountries like Brazil and Netherland have taken initiatives forsustainable development of biofuel crops in cooperation forbiofuels production primarily focusing on production of ethanolon Industrial scale. More global efforts are being made toaccelerate economic bio-fuel production (Kathleen Araujo et al,2017).

The Allahabad Farmer, Vol. LXXIII, No. 4, October - December, 2017

60

Although, algal bio-fuel production holds great promise forIndia, there are many challenges and bottlenecks in algal bio-fuelproduction. While considering the promising economics fromalgae biological, technical and economical challenges studied ascompared to crude oil resources. This will create opportunitiesfor entrepreneurs for biofuel production with strengthening ofR&D and investments (Mallick et al, 2016). To address theissues the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government ofIndia is giving major emphasis on production of clean energy andbio-energy and supporting fundamental and application research.Algal Bio-fuels with micro, macro, cyanobacteria have beenattempted for bio-energy an viable alternative to fossil fuels withhigh efficiency strain identification and improvement in oilproductivity, crop protection, nutrient and resource allocation andenhancement of production process.Policy Options and Roadmap for Bio-fuel production in India:

Green energy is an area of strategic technological leadershipfor India. It addresses issues of economic demand on pollution,lesser land degradation and sustainability. Thus, the bio-fuelpolicy has been framed with the intent of implementing the usageof bioenergy as a vehicle fuel which is derived from the biomassand other related renewable sources. The framework of the policyon bio-fuels is focussing on protection of environment, higherefficiency in corporate sector and job creation (Demirbas 2008;Ghosh, 2016). Further opportunities in oil import can also becreated in the rural areas and promotion of biofuel market inprivate sectors.

India's energy security would remain vulnerable untilalternative fuels based on indigenously produced renewablefeedstock are developed to substitute or supplement petro-basedfuels. In India, ethanol is predominantly produced from sugarcanemolasses a by-product of sugar production. Ethanol productionin India, therefore, depends largely on the availability of sugarmolasses, which in turn depends on the production of sugarcane.Since sugarcane production in India is cyclical, ethanolproduction also keeps fluctuating annually often to meet theoptimum supply level required for its critical demand.Internationally it is proposed to replace 10-20% of gasoline with

bioethanol (Elshahed, 2010; Bruton et al, 2009). The NationalPolicy on Biofuel, approved by the Union Cabinet, Governmentof India, 2008 is being promoted by blending 20% bio-fuels-bio-ethanol and biodiesel. Under the biofuel policy of Govt. of India,the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) has came upwith a notification making 5 percent blending of ethanol withpetrol by the oil marketing companies (OMCs) is 'mandatory'. Itwas implemented in nine Indian states and four union territorieswith effect from January 2003, through its 'Ethanol BlendingProgramme' (EBP).

To have further expansion and address the R&D issues majorfocus is given on plantations, processing and productiontechnologies including second-generation cellulosic bio-fuels. Inalgal fuel production microalgae contains oil are processed forbiodiesel production and macroalgae composed of starch andcellulose are processed for ethanol production. There are numberof commercial and research efforts in the algal energy productionactivities focused on biodiesel as the end-product. Efforts haverecently been made to explore the viability of algae as feedstockfor other energy products (Medipally et al, 2015). Generation ofbio-fuels with algae for advanced bio-energy is aiming toaccelerate the sustainable deployment of biofuels giving emphasison algal bioengineering, production system, sustainable algalcultivation and adoption of bio-energy solutions in industry andother sectors. Renewable energy alternatives that are availablefor biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel, have emerged as a preferredoption for the transport sector in India. Alternative for energyoptions are being promoted in India to deal with impending crisis.This helps reducing dependence on imported crude oil and toenhance India's energy security. Algae are capable of producing30 times more oil per acre than the current crops now utilized forthe production of biofuels (Ghasemi et al, 2012).

Currently commercially viable exploitation of macroalgae andmicroalgal products are limited to products other than fuel. Thusthis also supports immediate future for the commercialisation ofalgae in combination with non-fuel products. Since the cultivationof macroalgae may not be profitable for biofuel production alone,the macroalgal industry need to take advantage of developingadditional high-value products such as "nutraceuticals", pigmentsand vitamins (Milledge et al, 2014).

CONCLUSIONSThe future of global biofuel production is dependent on

number of interrelated factors and their profitability. In India,implementation of alternative fuel options is a prime concern tomeet the future oil demands. There is need to have sustainableutilization of the available biomass and cultivation of oilproducing crops suitable to the different agro-climatic conditionsneeds persuasion. The microalgal and macroalgal biomass havingpotential for production of biofuels can be addressed byovercoming with technological hurdles for making energeticallysound and commercially viable biofuel. Considering seaweed isthe best for biofuel its cultivation at large scale and processesfor extraction of economical gain need to be attempted. Thecommunity based programmes with involvement of people willenforce the development of socio-economic aspects throughseaweed cultivation and microalgae utilization in bio-fuelproduction system. The demand for bio-fuel market is increasingdue to various environmental problems and more than petroleum

Fig. 4: Process of energy extraction from bio resources

Gaurav Ninawe and A. S. Ninawe

61

based fuels. Thus effective utilization of these renewableresources suggested providing direct benefits for automobileindustry as green energy solution and for reducing GHG, reducingenvironmental pollutions and for improving livelihood of ruraleconomy.

REFERENCESA. Demirbas, (2009) Biofuel Economy. In: Biofuels. Green Energy

and Technology. Springer, London; DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-011-1_7

Bruton T, Lyons H, Lerat Y, Stanley M, Bo Rasmussen M. A(2009); Review of the Potential of Marine Algae as a Source

of Biofuel in Ireland. Sustainable Energy Ireland report2009;p.1-88.http://www.seai.ie/Publications/RenewablesPublications/ Bioenergy/Algaereport.pdf;

Chapman VJ, Chapman DJ, (1980); Seaweeds and their uses.3rd ed, Chapman and Hall: London; 1980, p. 62-97.

Demirbas A. (2008); Biofuels sources, biofuel policy,biofuel economy and global biofuel projections.Energy Conversion and Management 2008. 49:2106 - 2116.

Elshahed MS.; (2010); Microbiological aspects of biofuelproduction: Current status and future directions. J AdvRes. 2010. 1(2): 103-111.

Ghasemi Y, Rasoul-Amini S, Naseri AT, Montazeri-NajafabadyN, Mobasher MA, Dabbagh F.; (2012). Microalgae biofuel

potentials (review); Prikl Biokhim Mikrobiol. 2012.Mar-Apr;48 (2):150-68.

Ghosh SK. (2016); Biomass & Bio-waste Supply ChainSustainability for Bio-energy and Bio-fuel Production;Procedia Environ Sci., 2016. 31:31 - 39.

Harvey, P.J.; Psycha, M.; Kokossis, A.; Abubakar, A.L.; Trivedi,V.; Swamy, R.; Cowan, A.K.; Schroeder, D.; Highfield, A.,Reinhardt, G (2012); Glycerol production by halophytic

microalgae: Strategy for producing industrial quantitiesin saline water. In Proceedings of the 20th EuropeanBiomass Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 18-22June 2012; pp. 85-90.

John J. Milledge , Benjamin Smith, Philip W. Dyer and PatriciaHarvey; (2014) ; Macroalgae-Derived Biofuel: A Review of

Methods of Energy Extraction from Seaweed Biomass;Energies 2014, 7, 7194-7222; doi:10.3390/en7117194

Kaliaperumal N, Kalimuthu S, Ramalingam JR; (2004);Present scenario of seaweed exploitation and industryin India, Seaweed Research and Utilisation 2004.26 ( 1 & 2): 47-53.

Kang Q, Appels L, Tan T, Dewil R. (2014); Bioethanol fromLignocellulosic Biomass: Current Findings DetermineResearch Priorities. Scientific World J. 2014. 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/298153.

Kathleen Araujo, Devinder Mahajan, Ryan Kerr and Marcelo daSilva; (2017); Global Biofuels at the Crossroads: An Overview

of Technical, Policy, and Investment Complexities in theSustainability of Biofuel Development; Agriculture 2017,7, 32; doi:10.3390/agriculture7040032

Kim S, Dale BE; (2005); Life cycle assessment of variouscropping systems utilized for producing: bioethanol andbiodiesel. Biomass Bioenergy 2005. 29:426?439.

Kim SK. (2011); Eco-Biochemical Studies of Common Seaweedsin the Lower Gangetic Delta. In: Ghosh R, Banerjee Kand Mitra A. Handbook of Marine Macroalgae:Biotechnology and Applied Phycology. 2011.p. 45-57.

Leary SJ, Hice LA, Feldheim KA, Frisk MG, McElroy AE, FastMD (2013); Severe Inbreeding and Small Effective Number of

Breeders in a Formerly Abundant Marine Fish". PLOSONE, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066126

Mallick N, Bagchi SK, Koley S and Singh AK (2016) Progressand Challenges in Microalgal Biodiesel Production.Front. Microbiol.7:1019. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01019

Mantri VA. (2006); Seaweed floristic studies along tsunamiaffected Indian coasts: A litmus test scenario after 26thDecember 2004. J Earth Syst Sci., 2006. 115: 371?378.

McNeely JA, Miller KR, Reid WV, Mittermeier RA, Werner TB;(1990) Conserving the World's Biological Diversity, IUCN, World

Resources Institute, Conservation International, WorldWildlife Fund-US, the World Bank, Washington D.C;1990; pp-1-193.

Michael Hannon, Javier Gimpel, Miller Tran, Beth Rasala andStephen Mayfield (2010); Biofuels from algae: challenges and

potential; Biofuels. 2010 Sep; 1(5): 763-784.Milledge JJ, Smith B, Dyer PW, Harvey P. (2014); Macroalgae-

Derived Biofuel: A Review of Methods of EnergyExtraction from Seaweed Biomass. Energies 2014.7: 7194?7222.

N. Gaurav, S. Sivasankari, GS Kiran, A. Ninawe, J. Selvine,(2017), "Utilization of bioresources for sustainable biofuels:

A Review", Renewable and Sustainable EnergyReviews 73 (2017) 205-214

Oza RM, Zaidi SH (2000); A Revised Checklist of Indian MarineAlgae, Central Salt and Marine Chemicals ResearchInstitute, Bhavanagar, India; 2000, p. 296.

Richmond A. (2004). Handbook of Microalgal Culture:Biotechnology and Applied Phycology. Oxford: BlackwellScience Ltd.

Sheehan, J.; Dunahay, T.; Benemann, J.; Roessler, P. (1998); ALook Back at the us Department of Energy's AquaticSpecies Program-Biodiesel from Algae; NREL/TP-580-24190; National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL):Golden, CO, USA, 1998; pp-1-328.

Srikanth Reddy Medipally, Fatimah Md. Yusoff, Sanjoy Banerjee,and M. Shariff (2015); Microalgae as Sustainable Renewable

Energy Feedstock for Biofuel Production; BioMedResearch International; Volume 2015 (2015), Article ID519513, 13 pages; http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/519513

Swain KC (2014) Biofuel Production in India: Potential,Prospectus and Technology. J Fundam RenewableEnergy Appl 4:129. doi:10.4172/2090-4541.1000129

Van Thang Duong (2015); High Protein- and High Lipid-Producing Microalgae from Northern Australia asPotential Feedstock for Animal Feed and Biodiesel;frontier in Bioengineering and Biotechnology; 2015;3: 53.

Weldemichael Y, Assefa G; (2016); Assessing the energyproduction and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissionsmitigation potential of biomass resources for Alberta.J Clean Prod 2016. 112: 4257?4264.

The Allahabad Farmer, Vol. LXXIII, No. 4, October - December, 2017