Abstract
Among the fossil fuels, diesel has the major share in petroleum product consumption. Diesel demand in Iran has increasingly grown due to the low price of diesel, a high subsidy, and an unsuitable consumption pattern. During 2006–2007, this growth imposed 2.2 billion liters of imports, which were equivalent to 7.5% of diesel production in 2007 and cost about $1.2 billion. Therefore, the government implemented fuel rationing in 2007 and a targeted subsidy law in 2010. These projects have not gained effective control of consumption due to the wide gap between the international diesel price and the domestic price. Diesel import after the implementation of fuel rationing and the targeted subsidy law in 2011 imposed 3.6 billion liters of import and cost about $2.2 billion. Therefore, the government will need fundamental strategies and policies to face and control the negative impact on the economy and the environment. Third generation fuels, biofuels, as another supplementary approach seems to have the capability to reduce the petroleum requirement. This paper investigates the potential of biodiesel as diesel alternative fuel from oil seeds and microalgae in Iran along with evaluating the policy for reducing diesel consumption. Dunaliella salina as an indigenous green microalga isolated from the Maharlu Salt Lake was cultivated in an integration of an airlift system and a raceway pond (IARWP) to prove microalgal potentials in Iran. Additionally, the natural culture medium from the Maharlu Salt Lake was utilized for Dunaliella salina in order to commercialize and reduce cultivation cost. Compared to oilseeds, microalgae because of their high lipid content have much potential to solve a fuel consumption problem. This paper found that only 21 percent of cultivable land is needed to replace the diesel currently consumed in Iran with microalgal biodiesel.
Highlights
Fossil fuels demand has grown faster due to economic development and the increase in the world’s population [1,2,3,4]
Concerning the cited circumstances about the current conditions and rapid growth rate of diesel consumption, it is obvious that Iran should seek a fundamental solution and strategies besides those of increasing production and imports of diesel
The government implemented fuel rationing and a targeted subsidy law during 2007–2010 to reduce diesel consumption and import. While these plans have not reduced diesel consumption efficiently because of the too-low price of diesel due to a decrease in Iran’s currency despite the implementation of the subsidy plan, the high subsidy of fuels due to not implementing the subsequent phases of the subsidy plan have caused a catastrophic decreasing of social welfare, an economy intensively dependent on fuel price, an incompatible relationship between fuel consumption and vehicle production, old technologies of manufactured vehicles, and undeveloped and weak public transportation
Summary
Fossil fuels demand has grown faster due to economic development and the increase in the world’s population [1,2,3,4]. It might be due to the high capital and operation costs [18] To overcome these main bottlenecks, researchers have reported several major measures, such as the employment of genetic and metabolic engineering to enhance microalgal biological properties, the isolation of promising algal species for biodiesel production, improving the efficiency of microalgal bioreactors, the utilization of a wide range of culturing strategies, such as waste exhaust, CO2 wastewater, etc., the enhancement of harvest methods, increasing the efficiency of lipid extraction and transesterification methods, and the development of valuable co-products, such as glycerol [18]. More research is needed to survey the economic issues related to biofuels in Iran
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