Sustainable production of valuable lipids from Indonesian Aurantiochytrium microalgae for green biofuel and biochemical Available to Purchase

Efforts to find efficient renewable energy sources are still being carried out in line with the increasing global energy demand and the crisis in the availability of clean energy sources. Biofuels are known as clean energy sources or alternative fuels derived from lipids, natural materials derived from living plants or animals that undergo physical and chemical processes. Currently, one of the potential sources of biofuel raw materials is microalgae. Microalgae has advantages as a source of alternative raw materials for biofuel production, such as requiring less land for growth, not damaging soil fertility, and not competing with food sources. Several species of microalgae have been widely recognized as potential raw materials for biodiesel production on a commercial scale. However, commercial-scale biodiesel production made from microalgae is currently not the main choice, because the final price obtained is still too high so its techno-economic feasibility is still low. Therefore, the sustainability of biodiesel production made from microalgae can be achievedby finding microalgae strains/seeds that have high and fast lipid productivity so that the capacity meets economic aspects and market needs. Another thing that can support the economics of the biofuel production process from microalgae is if the process has by-products that have high economic value. Currently, one of the microalgae that have potential as raw material for biofuels is Aurantiochytrium species. So far, Aurantiochytrium microalgae are known as oleaginous microalgae (microalgae with high lipid content) because of their ability to produce lipids with high productivity. From the literature obtained, when compared with Spirullina species microalgae with a harvest period of 2 weeks and productivity of 1 gram/liter, the Aurantiochytrium microalgae can produce lipids of up to 200 grams/liter in just 4-5 days of cultivation time. Even though Aurantiochytrium microalgae are found in many mangrove habitats, where Indonesia is the country withthe largest mangrove forest in the world, however there is not any research in international publication using native Aurantiochytrium from Indonesia. Hence, this paper shall contribute in recognising potentials of native Aurantiochytrium microalgae into academic research. In this paper methodology to isolate Aurantiochytrium microalgae by means of direct plating method was carried out. The observed Aurantiochytrium cells are observed their intercellular lipid content using fluorescence microscope. The research findings reveal lipid potentials containing in observed Aurantiochytrium microalgae. Based on literature findings, such lipid component of Aurantiochytrium microalgae is about 75% of the biomass, of which 30-50% contains palmitic acid (C16) which can be used for bioenergy feedstock. In addition to the potential for biomass production, Aurantiochytrium microalgae have been widely studied as a multipurpose product, ranging from animal feed, nutrition, cosmetics, and even COVID-19 vaccine adjuvants. Based on the results of the initial analysis, the lipid obtained from these microalgae are also rich in DHA and EPA with a content of up to 35%, so lipids can not only be used as raw materials for biofuels but also have the potential as health supplements, namely oils rich in Omega-3. Therefore, it is hoped that this review of the potential of Aurantiochytrium microalgae for biofuels can be considered in the future for the economic-scale production of biofuels from microalgae with better techno-economic feasibility.