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Algal Biomass Pretreatment for Improved Biofuel Production

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Algal Biofuels

Abstract

Algal biomass contributes significantly in the biomass based renewable energy generation. Algae are photosynthetic aquatic microorganism, which utilize CO2 for synthesis of biomass and other metabolites. Algae have ability to utilize nutrients from range of wastewaters and CO2 from the various gaseous streams including industrial flue gas (Prajapati et al. 2013). Simultaneous biomass production and wastewater treatment further improve the potential of algal biomass as feedstock for biofuel production (Chinnasamy et al. 2010; Choudhary et al. 2016; Prajapati et al. 2016). Major biofuels produced using algal biomass include: biodiesel, bioethanol, biooil, biohydrogen and methane (Prajapati and Malik 2015). However, irrespective of the biofuel production route, the recalcitrant nature of the algal cell wall is the major hurdle. The recalcitrant nature of the algae is due to the presence of complex biopolymers such as microfibrillar polysaccharides, matrix polysaccharides and proteoglycans. Hence, pretreatment of the algal biomass usually becomes necessary to improve the biofuel extraction. Pretreatment of algal cells deals with extraction process and yield of biomass/biofuel. This phase includes the cell wall disruption mediated by physical (mechanical), chemical and enzymatic methods.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Laboratory, School of Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Vishal Mishra & Sanjeev Kumar Prajapti

  2. Bioscience Laboratory, Division of Biotechnology, Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (University of Delhi), Sector 3, Dwarka, New Delhi, India

    Akhilesh Dubey

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  1. Vishal Mishra
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  2. Akhilesh Dubey
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  3. Sanjeev Kumar Prajapti
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Correspondence to Sanjeev Kumar Prajapti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Sanjay Kumar Gupta

  2. Applied Microbiology Laboratory, Centre for Rural Development and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Anushree Malik

  3. Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

    Faizal Bux

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Mishra, V., Dubey, A., Prajapti, S.K. (2017). Algal Biomass Pretreatment for Improved Biofuel Production. In: Gupta, S., Malik, A., Bux, F. (eds) Algal Biofuels. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51010-1_13

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