Biobutanol—“A renewable green alternative of liquid fuel” from algae

Abstract

Increasing global energy demand, concern over global climate changes, and unstable and expensive petroleum resources, have led to the development of renewable energy sources that have driven research toward the utilization of biomass resources for the production of energy and fuels.In this context algae appear to be an emerging source of biomass for biobutanol that has the potential to give an alternative green solution to replace fossil fuel and reduce environmental issues.Biochemical production of butanol, a four carbon aliphatic alcohol, is promising due to its superior fuel properties as compared to ethanol.This chapter presents a comprehensive review on sustainable bioproduction and utilization of butanol as a biofuel and provides a glimpse on different potential biomass and microorganism for biochemical production of butanol.Main bottlenecks in biochemical production and recovery using conventional anaerobic acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation and corresponding recent counteractive steps to overcome these challenges were discussed systematically.A special emphasis has been given on the production of butanol a green alternative solution to fossil fuel using both microand macroalgae as potential biomass.