1. “A new dimension to Algae fuel”:
Far from light and closer to human
needs”
Sandeep Satapathy
BS-MS, IISER,Bhopal
INSPIRE Fellow(2010)
JNCASR Fellow(2012)
Rajiv Gandhi Fellow(2012)

2. Algae
Biofuel: A multi-
dimensional facet

3. Why ALGAE??
• The term "algae" encompasses a variety of organisms found
throughout the world in or near bodies of water. Though most
algae are photosynthetic or autotrophic, some are
heterotrophic, deriving energy from the uptake of organic
carbon such as cellulosic material.
• Once considered to be a part of PLANT Kingdom are currently
labeled under the kingdom “PROTISTA". The feedstock
involved in the bio fuel production is primarily a plant derived
product.

4. • Of most of the algae found, very few are heterotrophic.
However,the existing obligate heterotrophs lack the product
efficiency and thus motivated towards the METABOLIC
MANIPULATION of the facultative autotrophs.
• Some companies are currently establishing infrastructure and
developing on sciences involving heterotrophic growth of
algae for bio fuel production and SOLAZYME is one of the
leading companies currently involved in this.
PRIME FOCUS:
• Commodity cost is not the sole focus. Rather commodity cost
and high value specialty products are unique features of
desired product.

5. Behrens and Kyle 1966:
“Details of difference in cell organization and growth
modes and ability to manipulate metabolism through
simple manipulation of the chemical properties of the
culture medium.”

6. Which algae???
Comparing different strains of algae using a specific process
enables one to conclude the efficient algae. But what about
INITIAL classification of algae??
• An algae with cellular machinery developed to accommodate
a shift from photosynthetic pathway to heterotrophic
pathway easily is the suitable one.
• The one with high crude lipid content (67%) and low crude
protein content (13%).
• E.g- Chlorella Protothecoids and Botryococcus braunii.

7. C
Botryococcus Braunii
C .Protothecoids

8. Confocal Scanning
Microscopy Microscopy(A,B)
Differential Interference
Microscopy(C,D)
(A)Autofluorescence of photoautotrophic C. protothecoides
cells with chlorophyll.
(B) Autofluorescence of chlorophyll disappearing cells of
heterotrophic C. protothecoides.
(C) Almost no lipid vesicles were observed in photoautotrophic
C. protothecoides cells.
(D) The cells of heterotrophic C. protothecoides were full of
lipid vesicles.

9. Methods:
The most common method, FAST PYROLYSIS involves using a
volume specified container at a high temperature(500°C) and
controlled pressure conditions.
1.Absence of oxygen
2.High heat and heat transfer rates
3.Short vapor residence time (2-3 sec)
4.Rapid cooling of vapor from pyrolysis
(Bridgewater et.all 1999)
5.Addition of organic carbon sources and
decrease in organic nitrogen source favors
fast growth.
6.Feedstock:Glucose(most common),pine
wood and cotton straw etc.

10. Need for control:
 It affects the % yield of oil as at high temperature there may
be a phase change of oil subtypes.(Miao et.all 2004).
 Increasing a temperature from 400 to 450 °C( 41.2 to 57.9)
increased the oil yield. However beyond 500°C it declined
( 57.9 to 54.6).
 A cross inverse relation has been established from the char
yield and oil yield, that is increase of one lead to decrease of
other. Thus rooting itself to the differential levels of lipid and
protein accumulation.
 The main difference is due to the difference in chemical
composition of the plant products used as feedstock.

11. Blessings:
 Growing in algae in dark offers better control as the feedstock
is flexible and results in high oil yield.
 Anaerobic heterotrophic culture of algae leads to higher order
secondary metabolites production and thus helps in making
wide variety of oils.It includes from Soap to personal care
products like fragnances an d utilities like surfactants, food
oils, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals etc.
 To reduce the cost effectiveness of final product waste
feedstock can also be used as input.

12.  Least space requirement and also used for yield of Omega-3
Biomass powder.
 The cell concentration is higher in this method and thus
centrifugation will take lesser energy to separate the biomass.
 Against the claim of cost factor of bio fuel, the availability of
lot of organic materials substantiates the cost feasibility of this
oil to commercially available ones.
 Algal oils are also being used as dielectric fields in the
transformer market.
 The cetane value of algal bio oil is 74 which is much more
than the photosynthetic process.

13.  There is a kind of fuel called FAME (fatty acid methyl ester
based fuel) obtained from algae has better fuel properties
than the commercially available ones.
 It has low oxygen content, is of low density and low viscosity.
 Co-Product inclusive model:
Quantity of sugar + Quantity of Algae
=
Main Product +Multiple by-products
 It does not add upto the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
and thus acts as a control on greenhouse effect.

14. Bliss:
 Photosynthetic oil yield is the conventional one .The
technology and methodology developed and installed at
present is more adapted to the conventional phototrophic
pathway.
 Fermentation is found to be expensive. Sources of
carbohydrate as feedstock can be varied and can be of
different costs.
 It requires that land/sea to grow sugar as algae feedstock,
whereas it could be used more efficiently to grow algae using
sunlight for energy.
 It may also hamper the balance in food chain.

15. Food for thought:
 What happens to the lignin of the lignocellulose material used
as feed stock??Is it toxic to the cell??Does it decreases the
yield??
Hint: A few research work at present focuses on uses of conc.
hydrochloric Acid for decomposition of the lignin coat.

16.  Route-Dependence Theory:
If a plant could process SUNLIGHT-SUGAR more efficiently than
SUNLIGHT-OIL and if algae could process SUGAR very efficiently
than SUGAR-OIL, this process can make a sense.
Sn2OA > Sn2Sgp + Sg2OA
Sn2OP > Sn2Sgp + Sg2OA
Where,
Sn2OA- cost of sunlight to oil using algae.
Sn2Sgp- cost of sunlight to sugars by plants.
Sn2OP- cost of sunlight to Oil by plants.
Sg2OA- cost of Sugar to Oil by Algae.

17. Catalytic Up gradation:
To upgrade bio fuels Nano-scale materials with high number of
active sites and high surface area are used. Specially when the
process involves trans esterification of nanometer sized oxide
particles, inorganic oxides can be used as heterogeneous Nano
sized catalyst.
Commercially available calcium oxide is known to improve the
trans esterification process by 99%.

18. Solution to India’s energy crisis
 It is indeed surprising that India has not seriously considered
the algae biofuel as an alternative means of energy. More
than 99 per cent of commercial algae biomass produced
worldwide currently is mainly from seaweeds farmed near
the seashore. India should not let go the opportunity to
utilize the algae, that can be cultivated in large quantity in
the Indian coastal regions.
•
While large scale production for algae based biofuels is
expected to start between now and 2020 in the developed
countries, the work on development of technology and
engineering practices for production of algae biofuel in India
is still in a nascent stage.

19.  The biggest challenge in algae biofuel production is cutting
the cost which is estimated to run to more than $20 a gallon
at present. Researchers are trying to figure out how to grow
enough of the right strains of algae and how to extract the oil
most efficiently.
 The several advantageous salient features of algae in Indian
conditions include the following:
* The country’s enormous diversity
* Vast coastline
* Sufficient solar energy
* Does not compete with food crops for land availability
* Can grow in places away from forests, thus minimizing the
damages caused to the eco-and-food chain systems.

20. THANK YOU