Fuel Alcohols from Microalgae

Abstract

Biosolvents such as acetone, butanol and ethanol are attractive biofuels which can reduce our dependence on fossil energy. Butanol is of particular interest as it can directly replace gasoline and be distributed using the current fuel infras- tructure. Fuel alcohols are produced by fermentation of sugars obtained from starch. Starch and sugar feedstock for producing alcohols are currently obtained from crop plants. Microalgae are primitive plants that can accumulate large quantities of starch under suitable conditions. Use of algae as a source of starch for producing fuels overcomes many of the limitations associated with the conventional sources of starch. This chapter is focused on production of fuel alcohols from microalgae via the starch route.