3rd generation biofuels: drawbacks

Posted by Stella Kin

7 May 2010
Science and Development Network
Biofuels from algae plagued with problems, says review

Gerhard Knothe, a research chemist with the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service:

"One aspect that has received little to no attention in the rush to develop fuels from algae is fuel properties...Will the properties of fuels ultimately derived from algae be competitive with the properties of existing fuels or biofuels?...There are virtually no literature reports on the properties of algae-derived biodiesel." 

Knothe found that "many, if not most" of the biodiesel fuels derived from algae have "significant problems" when it comes to their ability to flow well at lower temperatures ('cold flow') and they also degrade more easily than other biofuels. This is because many algal oils — from which the biodiesels are derived — contain relatively high amounts of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The principal hope for overcoming the problem is through genetic engineering of algae so they yield oils with more useful properties.

Reference
scidev.net
The findings will be published in a paper 'Production and Properties of Biodiesel from Algal Oils' in a book, entitled Algae for Biofuels and Energy, which I don't think is yet available as far as I can tell.