Page 493 - Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

Marine biomass toward biofuel 20

production

Jeevanandam Vaishnavi, Arumugam Arulprakash, Adikesavan Selvi
and Aruliah Rajasekar
Environmental Molecular Microbiology Research Laboratory, Department of
Biotechnology, Thiruvalluvar University, Vellore, India

20.1 Introduction

Providing an adequate supply of clean energy for the society is one of the most
challenging tasks the world is facing now, as it is directly linked with global stabil-
ity and economy issues. Fuel usage in the form of transportation, manufacturing,
and domestic heating applications contributes around 70% of the total global energy
requirements. On the other hand, electricity accounts for only 30% of the global
energy consumption. The world’s primary energy resource is dependent on fossil
fuels, extraction of oil, and natural gas which leads to the emission of carbon diox-
ide, which in turn contribute to the greenhouse effect (Change, 2014). According to
Vially et al. (2013), the risks of dwindling reserves are expected to last for probably
53 years (oil reserve) and 54 years (natural gas reserve). Climatic changes urge the
need for an effective ecological change (Taylor et al., 2015). Therefore a bio-based
approach, such as marine waste biorefinery, is considered as one of the innovative
and alternative technologies that convert biomass into sustainable and economically
valuable products (Demirbas, 2009).
Petroleum refineries formed the basis to the emergence of biorefineries that have
greatly replaced conventional refineries. Biorefineries have been considered as an
alternative for the fossil fuels due to increased fuel usage, high fuel cost, use of
nonrenewable resource, and secondary pollutant generation (Aristidou and Penttil¨ a,
2000). Marine biorefinery is one such method that makes use of microbial
community isolated from the marine environment for high-yield biofuel production.
Major source of marine biorefinery includes microalgae (diatoms, green, golden,
and blue/green algae), macroalgae (brown, red, and green seaweeds), yeast, and
bacteria. Marine crops have long been recognized as a potential biofuel source due
to its greenhouse gas abatement potential characteristics and CO 2 adsorption
capacity than terrestrial plants (Jong et al., 2010). During the process of biofuel
(bioethanol, biodiesel, biomethanol) production, other value-added by-products,
such as pharmaceuticals, food, feedstocks, enzymes, and pigments, are also
produced (Coates et al., 2013). Therefore biorefinery technology plays a dual role

Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818996-2.00020-X
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.