title: Diatoms: a fossil fuel of the future.
abstract: Long-term global climate change, caused by burning petroleum and other fossil fuels, has motivated an urgent need to develop renewable, carbon-neutral, economically viable alternatives to displace petroleum using existing infrastructure. Algal feedstocks are promising candidate replacements as a 'drop-in' fuel. Here, we focus on a specific algal taxon, diatoms, to become the fossil fuel of the future. We summarize past attempts to obtain suitable diatom strains, propose future directions for their genetic manipulation, and offer biotechnological pathways to improve yield. We calculate that the yields obtained by using diatoms as a production platform are theoretically sufficient to satisfy the total oil consumption of the US, using between 3 and 5% of its land area.
authors: Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. Electronic address: levitan@marine.rutgers.edu.
authors: Orly
authors: O
authors: Levitan
authors: Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. Electronic address: jotadin@gmail.com.
authors: Jorge
authors: J
authors: Dinamarca
authors: Department of Agriculture, Food & Resource Economics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
authors: Gal
authors: G
authors: Hochman
authors: Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 0885, USA.
authors: Paul G
authors: PG
authors: Falkowski
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D057231:Climate Change; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D017377:Diatoms; D005544:Forecasting; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D005579:Fossil Fuels
keywords: Energy Return (On) Investment; biofuel; biomass; diatoms; lipids; productivity