Cellulosic Ethanol from algae – Facts and Status

Cellulosic ethanol has been in the news for a while

, and I'll be surprised if you have not heard about it. Essentially, cellulosic ethanol refers to the ethanol derived from the cellulosic component of plants. A lot of woody parts of the plants, stems, leaves etc. are rich in cellulose.

In theory, cellulosic ethanol sounds great. In practice however, cellulosic ethanol has not entered large scale commercial production owing to the high cost of ethanol thus produced. It is hoped that the cellulosic ethanol companies will soon escape from the "valley of death" phase they are currently in and start producing ethanol from cellulose in a large scale.

Thus, cellulosic ethanol provides a unique opportunity in which ethanol is produced not from corn that otherwise is used as food, but from a range of waste biomass, which are normally wasted anyway.

Ethanol from cellulose raises the interesting question of whether algae could be used as the biomass for ethanol production from cellulose? It appears that some species of algae do have the potential to be considered as a cellulosic feedstock for ethanol production. However, we have not seen many efforts taken in this area of research.

Macroalgae relatively contain a higher amount of cellulose when compared to microalgae and, some efforts have been done to produce cellulosic ethanol from macroalgae. For instance, ethanol production technology from cellulose of seaweed called Euchema denticulatur has been established in Korea. Similarily, in Vietnam, ethanol production from cellulose of Caulerpar racemosa and Ulva sp. is being extensively studied. In the big biofuels picture, however, these are miniscule efforts! View more @ www.oilgae.com

Cellulosic Ethanol from algae Facts and Status

By: solarant

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