Page 498 - Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

Marine biomass toward biofuel production 455

Figure 20.2 Production of biofuel using macroalgae.

tubing in Klotze, Germany, which produced approximately 100 t of chlorella annu-
ally (Pulz and Gross, 2004). Till date, chlorella production guarantees high quality
which can be used safely and successfully (https://www.algomed.de/en/homepage).
Two main Chlorella species, Chlorella vulgaris and Chlorella pyrenoidosa, are
commercially cultivated. Chlorella species contains high amount of starch, which
can be used for the production of bioethanol (Bra ´nyikova ´ et al., 2011) when supple-
mented with 50% of sulfur content. The Chlorella biomass is rich in carbohydrates,
minerals, and proteins that can be used to produce many value-added by-products
and several bioactive compounds after the extraction of biofuels (Brennan and
Owende, 2010) and thus Chlorella helps to produce environment-friendly and sus-
tainable biofuels. The main advantages in cultivating microalgae (Chlorella) are as
follows: it does not need a fertile soil, limits the pollution, and efficient in utilizing
the nutrients from wastewater. Algae require carbon dioxide for its growth
(Guccione et al., 2014).

20.3.2.2 Botryococcus braunii
The pear-shaped, bloom-forming green microalgae Botryococcus braunii grow in a
cluster form that can be used for the production of biodiesel. Due to its blooming
nature, there is an increased quantity of biodiesel production of high quality. The
selection of strains is solely based on the high amount of lipid production. Unless