Summary

In 2014, petroleum represented 39.8% of the total national energy requirement, particularly in transportation and manufacturing sector. Further, the annual expenditure in 2014 for imported petroleum was estimated as 25% of the country’s total import expenditure, thus approximately 41.7% of the country’s total export value. Therefore, the power and energy sector has a huge bearing on the country’s balance of trade and exchange rates. Concurrently, due to the vast industrialization and growing population, the demand for fossil fuel is increasing continuously across the country, leading to climate change, environmental pollution and health problems. The other side of the problem concerns with the reduction of crude oil reserves and difficulties in their extraction and processing, which leads to increase of its cost. Hence it’s a national requirement to take systematic efforts to develop alternative fuels, as an essential element in policies to decrease fossil fuel dependency of the country. This situation is particularly acute in the transportation sector of national economy, where currently no alternatives to fossil fuels are available. Thus, finding adequate supplies of clean energy for the future have turn out to be one of society’s most daunting challenges, which will intimately linked with the stability, prosperity, and quality of living. Biodiesel has received considerable global attention as a fuel in recent years, as it is made from non-toxic, biodegradable and renewable resources. Commercial biodiesel is currently produced from animal fat, waste frying oil and vegetable oils. However, due to it’s competition with edible vegetable oil and agricultural land, first and second generation biofuel production has become a controversial issue. Thus, utilizing microalgae for biofuel production can be considered as a suitable alternative for ‘food to fuel’ accusation. This is mainly because, microalgae are the most efficient biological producer of oil in the planet due to its higher photosynthetic efficiency, higher biomass productivities and faster growth rate. Moreover, microalgae have also been considered as a versatile source of biomass, can be grown in variable climates and non-arable lands. Furthermore, water consumption of microalgae is far less as compared to the traditional crops. Since their production is not seasonal as typical oil seed crops, microalgae yield can be harvested daily. Thus, microalgae have the potential to become the best solution for the fuel crisis in Sri Lanka and also could be one of the earth’s most vital renewable fuel crops.

Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by Indian Ocean and located in the equatorial belt. Hence, the country receives a year round supply of solar radiation which in general favors the growth of microalgae. Thus during the proposed study, microalgae strains will be identified from different climatic zones of Sri Lanka by considering the factors required for maximum algae growth and oil yield. Further, analytical framework will be developed based on the biodiesel yield of the indigenous microalgae to establish a benchmark for viable production. Thus, the outcome of the proposed research can be utilized as the basis to evaluate the potential of third generation biofuel production in Sri Lanka. Moreover, it will help to amend the policy on the biodiesel production in the country.

Therefore, in view of providing an acceptable long term solution for the fossil fuel crisis, third generation biofeul production utilizing the identified indigenous microalgae can be innovatively adapted to develop a promising alternative fuel in Sri Lanka.

Objectives

1) Isolation and identification of indigenous microalgae species from a range of natural water bodies in Sri Lanka.

2) Evaluation of the rate of growth and lipid accumulation of the isolated microalgae.

3) Determination of biodiesel yield and comparison of fatty acid profiles of selected microalgae strains by one-way analysis of variance.

4) Development of the analytical framework to establish benchmark for economically feasible biodiesel production in Sri Lanka.