ALGAE – ENERGY SOURCE OF THE FUTURE IN THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR

Abstract

There is a general consensus that in order to reduce gaseous emissions, climatic changes and global warming effects, while also responding to the ever increasing demand for energy in the recent years, finding alternative energy resources is a pressing mission. For environmental and economic sustainability, transport fuels need to be renewable and carbon neutral. Based on current knowledge and technology projections, third generation biofuels, particularly those derived from algae, are considered to be a technically viable alternative energy source. This paper focuses on algae and how they can be used for biofuel production. Like plants, algae use sunlight to produce oils, but they do so more efficiently than crop plants. Oil productivity of many algae species exceeds the oil productivity of the best oil producing crops. Therefore, a comparison between microalgae and macroalgae is discussed in detail, along with energy production pathways and the possibilities of combining these steps with pollution control, considering specific species of algae that are found in the Black Sea area, especially at the Romanian shore.