Bioethanol Production as a Renewable Energy Source
from Algal Biomass & Corn Stalk
1. SLAYT KAPAK + WHY DID WE CHOSE THIS TOPIC?
2. SLAYT
The energy demand for transportation has
been changing remarkably because of the
negative effect of fossil fuels (coal, crude
oil, natural gas) on the environment. The
combustion of fossil fuels in vehicle
engines releases greenhouse gasses such as
carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur,
nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxide which
cause air pollution by depleting the ozone
layer and contamination of soil and water
on the earth. In addition, the release of
carbon dioxide increases the temperature
of the earth’s surface. Thus, alternative
renewable energy sources are essential to
prevent greenhouse gas emissions. The
production of energy from biomass is the
major alternative to fossil fuels because
biomass is obtained from organic materials
which creates sustainable and renewable
energy source for the transportation sector.
3. SLAYT WHAT IS BIOFUEL?:
Biofuel is a fuel that is produced through
contemporary biological processes, such as
agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather
than a fuel produced by geological
processes.
Biofuels are low in carbon intensity so
they don't directly affect global warming in
fact, it is suggested that biofuel
formulations can remove materials like
logging waste and cooking oil from the
waste stream.
There are 3 types: BIOETHANOL,
BIODIESEL, BIOBUTANOL
We will focus on bioethanol at this
presentation
4. SLAYT HOW DO WE GENERATE
BIOTFUEL ?
The production of bioethanol from
feedstocks that are edible and grown in
land areas first generation biofuels.
Residue of crops or waste bio-based
products are called second-generation
biofuel and third generation biofuels are
obtained from algal biomass
5. SLAYT: WHAT IS BIOETHANOL
AND WHY DO WE NEED IT?
Bioethanol is an alcohol produced from
organic biomass such as sugar, wheat or
maize, and represents over 80% of global
biofuel production. Bioethanol is a
biodegradable, non-toxic and proven
alternative to fossil fuel that can be
blended for use in any petrol-engine car
today
 It can be refined from biomass of
land areas and living creatures in
water: farm products, the residue of
plants and algae. Compared to
fossil fuels, bioethanol is a clean
and sustainable energy source.
 They reduce green house emission
 According to the researches the
expected increase in world
population to 8 or even 10.5 billion
by 2050, combined with significant
economic growth in emerging
economies will result in
substantially increasing energy
consumption. To be able to respond
to this growing demand, we need to
use natural resources more
efficiently and increase the use of
renewable energy, such as biofuels.
.
6. SLAYT WHAT IS ALGAE?
 Algaes are Aquatic organisms that
have the ability to conduct
photosynthesis and produce oxygen
  Two types:
Macro algae: multicellular
organisms with a stem and leaves
Micro algae: one cell organisms
which can be cultivated in fresh
water tanks
 Algae are found in a range of
aquatic habitats, both freshwater
and saltwater.
 Includes prokaryotic organisms —
cyanobacteria abd eukaryotic
organisms (all other algal species).
7. SLAYT: OKU ALGAE TANIMI
DEVAMI
8. SLAYT: WHY USE ALGAE?
 Microalgae are very useful biomass
for the production of bioethanol
and the decrease of greenhouse gas
emissions.
 Some algae store energy (converted
from sunlight) in the form of
natural oils which can be converted
to biofuels.
 Extract that oil, and you have the
raw materials to make fuel for cars,
trucks, trains, and planes.
 One of the most promising long-
term, sustainable sources of
biomass and oils for fuel, food,
feed, and other co-products
9. SLAYT :
ALSO THERE IS ANOTHER
BENEFIT OF ALGAE
The toxic matter in the sea can be
cleaned with the cultivation of micro algae
because micro algae also consume the
harmful materials in waste water, such as
ammonium, nitrate and phosphate so that
greenhouse gas emissions in the sea can
drastically decrease.
The treatment of waste-water applied in
three steps to decrease greenhouse gas
emission:
1. Large particles are destroyed
2. Ammonium is oxidized to decrease
the harm in the sea
3. Diminish the amount of inorganic
compounds by nitrification and
denitrification
10. SLAYT: Algal Biomass is the
Renewable Energy Alternative as a
Third Generation Bioethanol Fuel
 Algae have high growth rate and
rapid photosynthesis ability that
converts carbon dioxide into the
food source, so they can be easily
harvested in great amounts.
 They can produce plenty glycose to
convert it into ethanol by
photosynthesis.
 ALSO the structure of microalgae
is a great lipid supply because they
have also the ability of synthesizing
lipid which can be used as the
source of ethanol production.
 94,000 L of bioethanol per year can
be produced from micro algal
biomass.
11. SLAYT: The Process for The
Bioethanol Production from Algal
Biomass
BU STEPLERİ ANLATMAYA
GEREK VAR MI BEN ŞÖYLE
Bİ ÖZET BULDUM:
1) Growing starch-accumulating,
filament-forming or colony-
forming algae in an aqua culture
environment;
2) Harvesting the grown algae
to form a biomass;
3) initiating decay of the
biomass;
4) contacting the decaying
biomass with a yeast capable of
 fermenting it to form
fermentation solution
5) separating the resulting
ethanol from the fermentation
solution.
Macro algae are consisting of organic
components with the oxygen supply and
inorganic materials that are the source of
bioethanol.
The structure of macro algae covered with
sugar-based cellulose and hemicellulose
can be hydrolyzed into ethanol.
First, the collection of macro algal biomass
from fresh water requires 30-35-meter
depth with slow flow rate.
The lipid content in the algae’s structure
can be calculated by subtracting initial
lipid amount from the final amount of
extracted lipid and the calculated
difference is multiplied by the weight of oil
extract.
Methanolic sulfuric acid is used to
degenerate the lipid content into fatty acids
in the transesterification process.
The four-stroke-engine process examines
the combustion characteristic of bioethanol
by blending algal biomass.
The extracted lipid content from the algal
structure is dried to obtain the exact
amount fermentable sugar.
Then HCl and H2SO4 acids hydrolyze the
extracted lipid content in three different
concentrations to increase the yield.
Cellulase enzyme breaks down the long
sugar chain into monomers in the
enzymatic process and the residual algal
biomass is removed by the centrifugation.
Sugar concentration is analyzed by the
chromotography and the calorimetric
method.
The yeast performs at 32 °C and pH 5 for a
week in the fermentation process to get
maximum ethanol yield.
During acid hydrolysis, new chemicals are
obtained so fermentation inhibitors are
necessary to prevent the negative effect of the
a unknown chemical which might contaminate
the ethanol production.
In the distillation process, bioethanol is
purified to decrease impurities.
12. SLAYT: PROCESS CHART
13.SLAYT: Economic Restrictions
for the Production of Bioethanol
from Algal Biomass (BURADA
KALDIM BURDAN İTİBAREN
YAZILAR DÜZELTİLMEDİ)
The production of bioethanol from algal
biomass is not commercially available
because of economic problems. High
energy demand from algal biomass
increases the cost of production process
due to the depreciation, raw materials, side
materials and the number of labor. [3].
The use of side materials, such as water
and energy, increases the quality of refined
bioethanol while raising the money
demand for the production. The cleaning of
water with the pump motor has a
remarkable effect on the production cost
during the bioethanol production. In
addition, energy is necessary to be able to
perform each process, so the power supply
is the major economic factor that increases
the production cost.
III. Second Approach: Corn-stalk as a
Second-Generation Bioethanol Fuel
Bioethanol can be synthesized from
corn stalk rather than edible products such
as corn, sugarcane to decrease the
production cost. The corn stalk is better
alternative than edible corn supply for the
bioethanol production because the use of
corn residue increases the corn
productivity while decreasing the demand
for occupying new farm areas to cultivate
feedstock for bioethanol production. [4]
Thus, corn prices in the market decrease as
corn residues are treated like a renewable
energy source. In year 2022, the renewable
energy demand from corn stalk or stover
would be compensated in great amounts.
[see Fig.1.]
Fig. 1. The Location of Crop Land
Resources for the Second-Generation
Biofuels [4]
A. The Process for the Bioethanol
Production from Corn Stalk
The condition of the environment
affects the enzyme activity. Thus, the
optimum temperature is at 50 °C to get
48.90% ethanol from corn stalk for the
enzymatic process. [5] Corn stalk includes
pentosic which is an easily hydrolysable
polysaccharide to produce ethanol. Thus, corn
stalk is a great energy supply with the content
of 19.35% lignin, 40.28% cellulose,
35.06% pentosans. The most important
steps for bioethanol production from corn
stalk are enzyme treatment and
fermentation process with the role of yeast.
After corn biomass is harvested, the corn
stalk is separated, and it is dried at 60-70
°C with the leaves to obtain high quality
bioethanol as an energy. [5] The dried corn
stalk is crumbled into small pieces before the
enzyme treatment. Enzymes can easily
denature the small corn stalk particles. The
buffer solution is prepared with acetate and the
crumbled corn stalk at pH 4.8 and autoclave
moulding which is a machine that applies
pressure and temperature to the substances is
actualized at 121°C. After autoclaved
moulding, enzymatic reaction with a
viscoenzyme and cellulolytic enzyme mixture
occurs at different temperatures to determine at
which conditions the high quality of ethanol
can be obtained. The 5g/L of dried yeast can
function in the medium of glucose 50g/L,
peptone 5g/L, MgSO4. 7H2O 1g/L,
K2HPO4. After the same autoclaved
process at 121°C for 15 minutes, the
destroyed corn stalk particles mix in the shaker
with the yeast for 18 minutes at 30 °C. [5] In
the fermentation process, the speed of the
shaker is increased to enhance the function of
the yeast. Filtration and vacuum evaporation
are applied to purify the liquid bioethanol fuel
from the unknown solid particles. High
Performance Liquid Chromatography is used
to calibrate bioethanol at different
concentration. [See Fig.2.]
Fig. 2. Linear Graph Plot of Ethanol
Calibration [5]
B. Kinetic Modelling
As mentioned before, yeast
fermentation plays a significant role for the
synthesizing bioethanol from corn stalk.
Thus, immobilized yeast bioethanol
fermentation is a technology that is applied
based on the Kinetic Modelling which
examines the yeast growth rate, bioethanol
production rate and substrate consumption
rate in fermentation process to produce the
high quality of bioethanol fuel.[6]
Saccharomyces cerevisia is the
immobilized yeast which is used in Kinetic
Modelling. umax represents the maximum
growth rate of the immobilized yeast in the
Kinetic Modelling and KIS and KIP are the
substrate and production constants
respectively. Based on the Kinetic
Modelling, 1.427 g/g.L is the maximum
production rate that can be reached during
whole process. [See Fig. 3.]
Fig. 3. Kinetic Modelling [6]
IV. Discussion: Comparision Between
Algal and Corn Stalk Biomass for the
Bioethanol Production
Agricultural biomass is the
cheapest way to produce bioethanol as a
renewable energy source so the residue of
crops which are known as second
generation feedstock such as corn stalk is
used for the production of ethanol. There is
no need extra farming areas for the
cultivation of the residues. [4] Therefore,
the use of corn stalk rather than edible corn
decreases the production cost.
Furthermore, the cultivation of corn is not
sustainable because the plantation of corn
should be maintained in the long term to
get the efficient amount in bioethanol
production at the same rate. [1] Even if
corn stalk generates clean bioethanol fuel
energy, it damages the life cycle of living
creatures because of the use of pesticide
which protects the farm products from the
insects. Thus, algal biomass is more proper
alternative for bioethanol production due to
their high growth rate, photosynthesis
ability and the high lipid and starch
contents in their structures. They also
remove the wastes from their water habitat
by consuming the harmful compounds. [2]
V. Conclusion: Algal Biomass is the Best
Renewable Energy Alternative
Algal biomass is the best feasible
renewable and sustainable energy
alternative for the bioethanol production
although it is not commercially available
because of the economic restrictions:
depreciation, the cost of labor and the raw
and side materials. The process of
synthesizing bioethanol from the structure
of algae does not have negative impact on
the environment. In addition, algae
decrease the release of greenhouse gases
by cleaning the wastes in water during the
process of bioethanol production.
VI. References
[1] S. Laga, Z. Gozkovic, C. Funk and F.
G. Gentili, “Algal Biomass from
Wastewater and Flue Gases as a Source of
Bioenergy”, Energies 2018 15, March
2018. 11, 664; doi:10.3390
[2] V. Kumar, M. Nanda, H.C. Joshi, A.
Singh, S. Sharma, M. verma, “Production
of Biodiesel and Bioethanol Using Algal
Biomass Harvested from Fresh Water
River”, Renewable Energy, Volume 116,
Part A, pp. 606-612, February 2018.
[3] F. G. Acien, J.M. Fernandez and E.
Molina-Grima, “Economics of Microalgae
Biomass Production” Department of
Chemical Engineering, University of
Almeria,Spain, Chapter 14. 2014.
[4] The Biomass Research and
Development Board. “Increasing
Feedstock Production for Biofuels:
Economic Drivers, Environmental
Implications and The Role of Research”
pp. 50-65.
[5] Y. C. Wong and A. M. Fikri,
“Synthesis of Bioethanpl from Corn Stalk
by Fermentation Process,” Oriental Journal
of Chemistry, vol.30, no.2 pp.637-
642,2014.
[6] S. Tian and Z.C Chen, “Dynamic
Analysis of Bioethanol Production from
Corn Stover and Immobilized Yeast,”
BioResources, pp.6040-6049, 2016.