Context: Recently, an researcher from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu under INSPIRE faculty fellow developing low-cost biodiesel from microalgae.
Key Points

• An INSPIRE faculty fellow from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu has proposed techniques for enhancing the triacylglycerol content in marine microalgae towards economic biodiesel production.
• This submission by the scientist received the “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research” (INSPIRE) faculty fellowship instituted by the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India.
• The scientist and his team have isolated predominant strains of marine microalgal species namely Picochlorum sp., Scenedesmus sp., Chlorella sp., from the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu for their potential in terms of total organic carbon content, and Triacylglycerides (TAG) content for biodiesel production.

Fuel potential of algae

• While fossil fuels deplete, the fuel potential of algae residing in the vast marine environment surrounding India remains unexplored.
• Algae fuel, algal biofuel, or algal oil is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that uses algae as its source of energy-rich oils.
• When made from seaweed (macroalgae) it can be known as seaweed fuel or seaweed oil.
• Like fossil fuel, algae fuel releases CO2 when burnt, but unlike fossil fuel, algae fuel and other biofuels only release CO2 recently removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis as the algae or plant grew.
• Algae use photosynthesis to convert CO2 and sunlight into energy-rich chemicals.
• The lipid (oily) part of the algae biomass can be extracted and converted into biodiesel by a process similar to that used for any other vegetable oil.
• The energy crisis and the world food crisis have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making biodiesel and other biofuels using land unsuitable for agriculture.
• Out of the over 30000 freshwater and saltwater species of algae, nearly 1000 species have exhibited the potential for producing biofuel.

Advantages of using algae for fuel

• It can be grown more easily than traditional crops. It can also be cultivated on land not suitable for regularly grown crops. It also uses wastewater in its growth. This means arable land used for cultivating food crops need not be spared for algaculture.
• Other feedstocks for biodiesel such as corn and palm are a source of food for humans. So, using them for producing fuel reduces the amount of food available, increasing the cost of both food and fuel. Using algae can thus be a viable option for biodiesel.
• Growing algae as a source of biofuel has huge environmental benefits. Apart from using contaminated water for growth, many species of algae are good bio-fixers as well.

However, the technology is still fairly new and it is said to be years away from being commercially viable.