Potential Enhancement of Biofuel Production Through Enzymatic Biomass Degradation Activity and Biodiesel Production by Halophilic Microorganisms

Abstract

There are many economic and negative environmental impacts that need to be solved before biofuels become a viable replacement for some of the fossil fuel demand. One environmental problem is the great amount of water required for the production of biofuels. The use of halophilic/halotolerant algae can greatly reduce the amount of water required for biodiesel production. The use of halophiles and their enzymes for degrading cellulosic biomass might also help reduce the need for high temperatures and pH neutralization of the pretreated biomass before fermentation. Significant amounts of information have been discovered about extremophilic lignocellulolytic systems. Investigations of halophilic lignocellulolytic degradation are at their initial stages. Modern recombinant screening techniques and data mining of genomes have the potential to yield many halophilic lignocellulytic enzymes. Thus, there is great potential for developing biotechnologies with halophilic/halotolerant algae for the production of biodiesel as well as halophilic lignocellulytic enzymes for treating biomass.