Many species of green algae are promising producers of useful substances for humans. Botryococcus braunii is an algae species full of natural oils that can often be found in large bunches.
Many species of green algae are promising producers of useful substances for humans. Botryococcus braunii is an algae species full of natural oils that can often be found in large bunches.
Fatty colonies
Botryococcus braunii is a colony forming algae with a lot of biotechnological potential. This species produces large quantities of vegetable oils (up to 80% of its own weight), which can be used as biofuel. Unlike for example Nannochloropsis gaditana, where oil is produced intracellularly (inside the cell ), B. braunii produces extracellular (outside the cell) oil as a kind of mucus layer to keep the colony together. This allows the oil to be harvested very easily for biofuel production.
Refined
The oils produced by B. braunii are hydrocarbons, not unlike those found in petroleum. The chemical technique used to produce biofuel is therefore the same as the one used to produce petrol and diesel from crude oil. It is called cracking and involves splitting long hydrocarbon chains into shorter chains with better fuel properties.
Modification
Although B. braunii produces a lot of oil, the net production is unfortunately quite low because of the slow growth of this algae. Genetic modification may offer a solution here. Research is being conducted into the transfer of B. braunii genes responsible for oil production to other, faster-growing algae species.