Abstract
A survey of published studies indicates that a yield in the range of 40–90 tonnes/ha of biodiesel can be produced from algae, grown either in open ponds or photobioreactors. The production of algal fuel is currently expensive compared to fuels refined from crude oil, mainly due to the cost of harvesting the algae. It appears that a viable future for replacing fuel derived from petroleum by algal fuels can be found if the algae production is combined with sewage treatment (to provide nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients) and cleaning CO2 from the smokestacks of fossil-fuel-powered power plants or cement factories, which would contribute considerably to meeting projected carbon emission targets. Thus, the provision of fuel from algae in order to replace petroleum could be best served as an integral feature of environmental pollution control.
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Rhodes, C.J. (2012). Making Fuel from Algae: Identifying Fact Amid Fiction. In: Gordon, R., Seckbach, J. (eds) The Science of Algal Fuels. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5110-1_10
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