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What Can Algal Biomass Be Used For Other Than Biodiesel?
Ethanol Production
Pharmaceuticals
Major pharmaceutical companies have been researching the beneficial properties of algae for decades. They have been researching in the following areas: Anti-Viral Studies, Anti-Cancer Studies, Beta Carotene, Cancer Prevention and Health Improvement, Cholesterol Reduction, Diabetes and Hypertension Reduction and Food & Nutrition. A number of alga have been used for drugs, where they can work as anticoagulants, antibiotics, antihypertensive agents, blood cholesterol reducers, dilatory agents, and insecticides. Major discoveries in research are being made every day.
Aquaculture
With the current reductions in wild edible fish species, fish-farming (Pisciculture) is becoming a very profitable business. Algal biomass is reported to be particularly suitable for pisciculture. Fish and shrimp farmers can raise healthier and more nutritious crops by feeding them algae. Another area would be providing food for aquariums. Alga flakes can be fed to fish larvae as an algae meal or as an enrichment diet for small animals, such as rotifers and brine shrimp, which are in turn fed to the larger aquarium species.
Organic Fertilizer
Synthetic chemical fertilizers are energy intensive to produce. Organic fertilizers from algae are not synthetic, they do not require a large energy output to produce. Algae Organic fertilizers also have a balanced N:P ratio and also have some biocontrol properties.
Cosmetic Compositions
Some algae contain a thousand times more iodine, one hundred times more calcium and ten times more magnesium and copper than terrestrial plants. In cosmetics, algae are used as thickening agents, water-binding agents, and antioxidants.
Livestock Feeds
Algal biomass has other potential on and off farm uses. Although it has primarily been considered as an alternative high-grade protein source in animal feed. Studies have also been done on algal meal as a carotenoid and vitamin supplement for poultry & salmonids.
Polymers / Plastics
Researchers have made plastics from soybean and corn oils and they believe that it could be done with algae oils. The residual amount of oil in algae, approximately 25% after cold pressing, could be extracted using Hexane or other solvents, but it make the algae unusable for other process and could produce other environmental considerations for disposal. It is worth looking into if it can be done right.
The sugars in algae can be processed into ethanol. The remaining oils, approx. 25% after cold pressing, in the algae flake can be recovered in that process for addition biofuel feedstock. One process would be to start cellular decay of the alga flakes in a dark anaerobic environment, fermenting the biomass in the presence of a yeast, and then isolate the ethanol produced using extraction technology. After processing the algae flakes for ethanol, you can dry the flakes again for further processes.