Abstract
Microalgae are considered to be the future promising sources of biofuels and bio products. The algal carbohydrates can be fermented to bioethanol after pretreatment process. Efficient pretreatment of the biomass is one of the major requirements for commercialization of the algal based biofuels. In present study the microalga, M. aeruginsa was used for pretreatment optimization and bioethanol production. Treatment of algal biomass with CaO before acid and/or enzymatic hydrolysis enhanced the degradation of algal cells. Monomeric sugars yield was increased more than twice when biomass was pretreated with CaO. Similarly, an increase was noted in the amount of fermentable sugars when biomass was subjected to invertase saccharification after acid or lysozyme pretreatment. Highest yield of fermentable sugars (16 mM/ml) in the centrifuged algal juice was obtained. 4 Different microorganisms’ species were used individually and in combination for converting centrifuged algal juice to bioethanol. Comparatively higher yield of bioethanol (60 mM/ml) was obtained when the fermenter microorganisms were used in combination. The results demonstrated that M. arginase biomass can be efficiently pretreated to get higher yield of fermentable sugars for enhanced yield of bioethanol production.
Highlights
Problems associated with fossil fuels like global warming, environmental pollution and continuous depletion, enforce the scientists to search for renewable, sustainable and ecofriendly alternatives (Hill et al 2006; Krishna et al 2001)
The results demonstrated that M. arginase biomass can be efficiently pretreated to get higher yield of fermentable sugars for enhanced yield of bioethanol production
After neutralization the reduced sugar quantity in the samples were measured by the method of Miller (1959) with little modifications. 1 ml dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) solution was mixed with 1 ml of the neutralized algae juice in Eppendorf tubes and the mixture was heated at 100 °C on hot block for 10 min
Summary
Problems associated with fossil fuels like global warming, environmental pollution and continuous depletion, enforce the scientists to search for renewable, sustainable and ecofriendly alternatives (Hill et al 2006; Krishna et al 2001). Bioethanol is a good alternative for petroleum oils as a transportation fuel while reducing costs, greenhouse gas emissions and waste streams. It can be used alone or can be blended with gasoline as transportation fuels (Rathmann et al 2010; Schenk et al 2008; Kaygusuz 2009). Bioethanol can be produced from a number of carbohydrates rich feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, sugar beet and microalgae etc. An efficient and cheap feedstock such as biomass of algae may be helpful in reducing the cost associated with biofuels generation (Wijffels and Barbosa 2010) Microalgae as a feedstock
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