Large-scale cultivation of microalgae for fuel

College

Gokongwei College of Engineering

Department/Unit

Chemical Engineering

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source Title

Process Development and Resource Conservation for Biomass Conversion

First Page

135

Last Page

159

Publication Date

12-18-2015

Abstract

Microalgae have been investigated for energy in the case of biofuels and cofiring with coal for electricity production. For biofuels, microalgae are viewed as sources of renewable energy that produce less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels. This chapter first discusses the large-scale production of microalgae for fuel. There are three main areas that address the large-scale production of these aquatic organisms: cultivation, harvesting and dewatering, and conversion to products. For cultivation, the types of species and their selection, growth systems, chemicals required for growth, and commercial production are discussed. The chapter then addresses the difficulties in separating the microalgae species from the growth medium, which includes microalgal physical traits that ease separation. Next, it discusses some common separation technologies with their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the chapter describes the products that can be made from the lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins, along with methods for converting those constituents into fuel.

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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1002/9781118699140.ch6

Disciplines

Chemical Engineering

Keywords

Microalgae—Cultures and culture media; Separation (Technology); Biomass energy

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