98
R. Abdulla et al.
tion of desired end products (Miranda et al. 2012). A more environmentally friendly
approach such as enzymatic hydrolysis is currently attracting many researchers in
the field due to its advantages over the physical and chemical methods such as mild
hydrolysis conditions and no formation of inhibitory compounds. Nevertheless, enzymatic hydrolysis still has very significant weakness which comes from the high cost
of enzymes as well as inactivation of enzymes in the presence of solvents and other
physical parameters (Pancha et al. 2016).
Overall, when discussing the economical aspect of microalgal-based bioethanol,
the total production cost is the major indicator that determines its feasibility for
commercialization. Figure 10 shows the production cost of bioethanol from microalgae including the cost for feedstock, capital, operation and total production cost.
This clearly shows that the cost is high per unit of production. Generally, it can be
stated that the entire production processes are very expensive when compared with
the energy extraction from fossil fuels. The research also basically still in the progressing state in which no significant established technologies have been developed.
Throughout the production processes, the cost will certainly increase exponentially
starting from the initial capital for feedstock cultivation followed by the electrical
equipment, storage, and transportation to move supplies from one area to the next.
The conversion technologies together with the distribution of the products also need
significant financial sources to aid its penetration into the market. All these disadvantages eventually urge for more intense research and initiatives from all parties to
come out with solutions which can bring maturity into the bioethanol industries. A
lot of efforts have been made especially for algal fuel companies for the past several
years where not even a single commercial facility has come to reality. Only persistent
technologies that are able to produce bioethanol in very large scale and at very low
cost are expected to open a new dimension in the bioethanol industry (John et al.
2011). In this case, most of the suggested solutions regarding the minimization of
production cost simply to reduce the number of steps in biofuel production so that
its efficiency can be boosted. Origin Oil Ltd., is an example of biofuel company
which has taken the prior initiative by developing a systematic process that is able to
reduce the cost where the harvesting and extraction of feedstocks are combined into
a single process (Kiran et al. 2014). In future, more advanced and realistic production
processes are longed for addressing the economic limitation faced by the bioethanol
world.
7 Conclusion
The superior features of microalgae especially Chlorella sp. Because of its high carbohydrate content is critically important to be employed for bioethanol production.
The chemical approach for the hydrolysis of the carbohydrate content using acid is
an efficient method due to short reaction time as well as high recovery of reducing sugars. In this study, the critical parameters for acid hydrolysis and bioethanol
fermentation from microalgae Chlorella sp. were optimized. The Chlorella sp. was
R. Abdulla et al.
tion of desired end products (Miranda et al. 2012). A more environmentally friendly
approach such as enzymatic hydrolysis is currently attracting many researchers in
the field due to its advantages over the physical and chemical methods such as mild
hydrolysis conditions and no formation of inhibitory compounds. Nevertheless, enzymatic hydrolysis still has very significant weakness which comes from the high cost
of enzymes as well as inactivation of enzymes in the presence of solvents and other
physical parameters (Pancha et al. 2016).
Overall, when discussing the economical aspect of microalgal-based bioethanol,
the total production cost is the major indicator that determines its feasibility for
commercialization. Figure 10 shows the production cost of bioethanol from microalgae including the cost for feedstock, capital, operation and total production cost.
This clearly shows that the cost is high per unit of production. Generally, it can be
stated that the entire production processes are very expensive when compared with
the energy extraction from fossil fuels. The research also basically still in the progressing state in which no significant established technologies have been developed.
Throughout the production processes, the cost will certainly increase exponentially
starting from the initial capital for feedstock cultivation followed by the electrical
equipment, storage, and transportation to move supplies from one area to the next.
The conversion technologies together with the distribution of the products also need
significant financial sources to aid its penetration into the market. All these disadvantages eventually urge for more intense research and initiatives from all parties to
come out with solutions which can bring maturity into the bioethanol industries. A
lot of efforts have been made especially for algal fuel companies for the past several
years where not even a single commercial facility has come to reality. Only persistent
technologies that are able to produce bioethanol in very large scale and at very low
cost are expected to open a new dimension in the bioethanol industry (John et al.
2011). In this case, most of the suggested solutions regarding the minimization of
production cost simply to reduce the number of steps in biofuel production so that
its efficiency can be boosted. Origin Oil Ltd., is an example of biofuel company
which has taken the prior initiative by developing a systematic process that is able to
reduce the cost where the harvesting and extraction of feedstocks are combined into
a single process (Kiran et al. 2014). In future, more advanced and realistic production
processes are longed for addressing the economic limitation faced by the bioethanol
world.
7 Conclusion
The superior features of microalgae especially Chlorella sp. Because of its high carbohydrate content is critically important to be employed for bioethanol production.
The chemical approach for the hydrolysis of the carbohydrate content using acid is
an efficient method due to short reaction time as well as high recovery of reducing sugars. In this study, the critical parameters for acid hydrolysis and bioethanol
fermentation from microalgae Chlorella sp. were optimized. The Chlorella sp. was