Total lipid and fatty acid composition of seaweeds for the selection of species for oil-based biofuel and bioproducts

• Published in: Global change biology. Bioenergy 2012-11, Vol.4 (6), p.919-930
• Main Authors: Gosch, Björn J., Magnusson, Marie, Paul, Nicholas A., de Nys, Rocky
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; biodiesel; Biodiesel fuels; biofuel; Biofuels; Biomass; Carbon; Coral reefs; Derbesia; Derbesia tenuissima; Dictyota; Environmental effects; Esters; Fatty acid composition; fatty acid methyl ester; Fatty acid methyl esters; Fatty acids; Fish oils; Fuels; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Genotype & phenotype; Genotypes; Lipids; macroalgae; nutraceutical; Oil and gas production; Oils & fats; omega-3; Petroleum production; Polyunsaturated fatty acids; Productivity; R&D; Raw materials; Research & development; Seaweeds; Selective breeding; Spatoglossum; Spatoglossum macrodontum; Species
• ISSN: 1757-1693; 1757-1707
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2012.01175.x

We investigated the potential of seaweeds as feedstock for oil‐based products, and our results support macroalgae (seaweeds) as a biomass source for oil‐based bioproducts including biodiesel. Not only do several seaweeds have high total lipid content above 10% dry weight, but in the brown alga Spatoglossum macrodontum 50% of these lipids are in the form of extractable fatty acids. S. macrodontum had the highest fatty acid content (57.40 mg g−1 dw) and a fatty acid profile rich in saturated fatty acids with a high content of C18:1, which is suitable as a biofuel feedstock. Similarly, the green seaweed Derbesia tenuissima has high levels of fatty acids (39.58 mg g−1 dw), however, with a high proportion of PUFA (n‐3) (31% of total lipid) which are suitable as nutraceuticals or fish oil replacements. Across all species of algae the critical parameter of fatty acid content (measured as fatty acid methyl esters, FAME) was positively correlated (R2 = 0.67) with total lipid content. However, the proportion of fatty acids to total lipid decreased markedly with total lipid content, generally between 30% and 50%, making it an inaccurate measure of the potential to identify seaweeds suitable for oil‐based bioproducts. Finally, we quantified within species variation of fatty acids across locations and sampling periods supporting either environmental effects on quantitative fatty acid profiles, or genotypes with specific quantitative fatty acid profiles, thereby opening the possibility to optimize the fatty acid content and quality for oil production through specific culture conditions and selective breeding.