Recent Trends and Developments in Algal Biofuels and Biorefinery

This book presents technoeconomic challenges, recent trends, and developments toward sustainable algal biofuels and biorefinery. The exponential increase in population and thus the demand for energy, the ever-rising threats to climate change with conventional fossil fuels consumption, fluctuations in fossil fuels price and geopolitical instability have made each and every country of the world to think over its energy independence and security by increasing its own domestic energy production and reducing dependence on scarce fossil fuels. The global need to shift towards a sustainable source of energy has led to the discovery of third and fourth generation biofuels, in which microalgae and their genetically modified strains have been exploited. However, these simple photosynthetic organisms are difficult to select and cultivate for the production of biodiesel. Genetic engineering has opened provisions for the introduction of desired traits to such useful strains. There are also scopes for designing of novel photobioreactors (PBRs) having strain-specific physicochemical parameters, adequate CO₂ and nutrient supply, and so on. The role of microalgae in CO₂ sequestration from the environment is well known fact. Wastewater treatment plants can be used a raceway pond for the microalgal biomass production, and thus, obtained biomass can be used for biofuels and biochemical production.

Mathematical modelling can be used to understand the complex phenomena inside the photobioreactor, which can be a great help to overcome the limitations related to design and scale up of PBRs. Flow hydrodynamics in PBRs has significant effect on the microalgae growth. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to study operating and geometry factors in PBRs that influence the flow dynamics, such as the inlet gas flow rate, mixing, mass transfer, reactor geometry. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) particularly artificial neural network model (ANN model), statistical and evolutionary learning-based techniques are some innovative approaches in manipulating and optimizing productivity and costs in algal biofuel production. This book is aimed to bring several aspects of algal biorefinery and microalgal biofuel production, challenges, and future perspective of microalgal biofuel production at a single place.

Dr. Navneeta Bharadvaja is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India-110042. She has been actively engaged in research and teaching activity for the last 16 years. She has taught courses like Biopharmaceuticals, Plant biotechnology, Genetic engineering, Genetics, Genomics, Bioethics, Biosafety and IPR etc at UG and PG level. She has guided 5 PhD students and more than 100 BTech/MTech/MSc Students for their respective dissertations.Currently 4 students are pursuing PhD under her supervision. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles in the fields of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Algal Biotechnology, Bioremediation, and Biofuels. She has two edited books on biogenic nanomaterials and algal biotechnology. She has attended several conferences and workshops and has delivered invited lectures in the area of her research.

Dr. Lakhan Kumar works at the Department of Biotechnology, Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India. He completed his B. Tech in Biotechnology from the National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, and M. Tech in Industrial Biotechnology from Delhi Technological University, Delhi. He obtained his PhD in Algal Biotechnology from Delhi Technological University, Delhi, India, where he investigated the application of native freshwater microalgae for biodiesel production, accumulation, and enhancement of chemicals of industrial significance, including b-carotene, polyhydroxy butyrate, and lutein; synthesis of biochar and nanoparticles for environmental remediation. He has more than six years of academic and administrative experience. He has supported more than 15 Masters and 10 Bachelors students from Biotechnology, Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering in completing their dissertations in algal-based biofuel, biochemical production, and bioremediation. He has been awarded the Research Excellence Award from Delhi TechnologicalUniversity, Delhi. He has participated actively in several Training, Conferences, Workshops, and Seminars on recent trends in Biobased resource recovery, bioremediation, nanobiotechnology, and next-generation fuels. Dr. Lakhan Kumar works towards Environmental Sustainability and Energy independence in rural and urban areas by utilizing biomass potential. His interests include Bioenergy, Bioprocess Engineering, Algal Biorefinery, and Remediation of Environmental Pollutants. He has published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, majorly in Algal Biofuels, Biorefinery, and Bioremediation. He also holds experience in book editing on domains like algal biotechnology, biochemical engineering, and biological wastewater treatment. He is a reviewer of several reputed journals and a member of a society working on Environmental and Social Development.

Dr. Soumya Pandit is currently working as a senior assistant professor at Sharda University, Greater Noida, Delhi NRC, India. Hetaught subjects like bioprocess engineering; industrial biotechnology; environmental microbiology and waste management; he pursued his doctoral studies from bioprocess engineering lab, department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and completed his postdoctoral research work (PBC fellow) in the Department of Desalination & Water Treatment, The Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev under Planning and Budget Commission Fellowship by Govt. of Israel. He is also a recipient of Northwest University, South Arica, post-doctoral fellowship. He has published various papers at international conferences in the area of environmental biotechnology and bioenergy. He has authored 70 research papers in peer-reviewed journals such as (1) bioresource technology, (2) international journal of hydrogen energy, (3) ACS applied materials and interface, (4) chemical engineering journal, (5) biosensor and bioelectronics, (6) ACS environmental science and technology, (7) journal of membrane science, etc.; he has authored 60 book chapters and published 9 Indian patents (2 granted) so far. He is the author of 4 books. His current research focuses on microbial electrochemical system for bioenergy harvesting, biohythane, bacterial biofilm, and biofouling study, etc. He has also presented his work at several national and international conferences. 

Dr.  Srijoni Banerjee is currently working as assistant professor at Adamas University, Kolkata. She did her Ph.D. in Bioprocess Engineering from Advanced Technology Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. (2020). She received the National Renewable Energy Scholarship from MNRE, under MHRD, Govt. of India, for conducting doctoral research.  She has worked as Senior Research Fellow (DST) (Chemical Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, area: quantum molecular simulation). She completed M. Tech. in Environmental Biotechnology fromJadavpur University, Kolkata, India. She also did, Post-Graduate Diploma in Bioinformatics from National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology. She has worked as a project fellow at Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. She had also presented her work in international conferences held at Seattle, USA, and Milan, Italy. She had been awarded with the best paper award at World Renewable Energy Technology Congress held at New Delhi, India (2017). She had also worked at ICGEB, New Delhi, IIT Delhi, during her Ph.D. tenure. Her research interests are: microalgal biodiesel production through biorefinery approach, photobioreactor design, CFD, process simulation, metabolic flux analysis. She has authored 17 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, 8 book chapters.

Raksha Anand works on the development of algal nutraceuticals, waste and biomass valorization, and analytical methods for detecting bioactive compounds from environmental samples. She completed her BSc (Hons.)in Biotechnology from the School of Basic Sciences and Research (SBSR), Sharda University. She received the Merit Scholarship at Sharda University for her stellar performance.  She completed her Master’s in Biotechnology from Delhi Technological University, Delhi. She worked on the bioprospecting of microalgae, their valorization for nutraceuticals, and the development of algal-based materials for environmental remediation. She has presented her work at international conferences and is applauded for her research endeavors. As a recognition of her research achievements, she was awarded the Commendable Research Excellence Award by Delhi Technological University in 2022.  Her interest areas include Nutraceuticals and Lifestyle Disease Management, Algal Biorefinery, and Environmental remediation. She has published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters majorly in Nutraceuticals, Wastewater Treatment, Microbial Fuel Cells, and Bioremediation. She is editing a contributedvolume on algal-derived nutraceuticals. She is a reviewer of several reputed national and international journals. She is passionate about her research and believes that biotechnology can offer sustainable solutions to the global challenges of energy and environmental problems. She actively participates in conferences, training programs, and workshops conducted in biotechnology. She also enjoys mentoring and inspiring young and aspiring biotechnologists through seminars and outreach programs.