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Importance of Blue Biotechnology
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Technology in Color Blue!

Blue biotechnology is combination of aquatic and marine organisms with technology to get new sources of energy, develop new drugs, extract new active ingredients (that could serve many purposes) or just to increase seafood production and its safety.

Sea is covering ¾ of the planet. Life began in the ocean and diversity of sea creatures is enormous (~230 000 species). Even though we explored a huge portion of the ocean, a lot of species, life cycles and other mysteries are waiting to be discovered.

Algae are probably not the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the sea, but they are certainly one of the commonest ocean inhabitants. They are close relatives of terrestrial plants, and just like them, algae act like “ocean lungs” by providing oxygen during photosynthesis. They vary in shape and size: from multicellular microscopic creatures to over 60 meters long monsters. Algae are very large and diverse group of organisms and they are classified in a couple of clusters according to the type of chlorophylls and other pigments they have. Some algae fossils are old 1.5 -1.6 billion years.

Why algae are so important? They provide oxygen, serve as food or even shelter for other marine animals and can be a partner for a lifetime when in symbiotic relationship with coral reefs or sponges… Roles they play in marine ecosystem are easily disturbed by human factor. Overfishing and pollution of the water results in algal overproduction and inflict severe damages to the whole aquatic ecosystem. There’s a simple explanation: fish are eating algae and keeping them under control while waste derived nitrates and phosphates act like fertilizers and accelerate algal production. Without fish, they are growing unstoppably and catastrophe is inevitable. An algal bloom is taught battle to win and so far only solution is control of pollution of the ocean and prevention of excess fishing.

Algae are exploited in so many ways.

They can serve as food (particularly in Asia). Salad made of ulva is easy way to ensure you daily doses of fibers and vitamins.

Agar- agar is a polysaccharide derived from red algae. It gets gelatinous after boiling and it’s used as a substrate for microbial cultivation. Agar is also used in food industry as thickening agent, as ingredient in various deserts, or can serve as appetite suppressant and laxative… Beside agar, carrageenan is other polysaccharide extracted from red algae that is also widely used in food and pharmaceutical industry.

Algal pigments are very important for their photosynthetic activity but can serve as natural coloring agents once extracted.

Industrial pollution increases demand for environmental friendly solutions. Algae find their role in biodegradable plastic production.

High rate of agriculture increases a need for efficient fertilizers. Since algae are natural source of essential plant nutrients – they serve as perfect fertilizers. And best thing is that you can collect them on your own!

For me, the most important thing about algae is that they could be used as a biofuel. Fossil fuels are formed during the anaerobic degradation of the organisms died long time ago. Over 85% of energy in the world is provided by fossil fuels. The reserves of fossil fuels are limited and they are not renewable. If this tempo remains unchanged, reserves will be depleted soon. That’s why so many efforts are made in finding and establishing new and renewable energy sources. Algal fuel is good alternative. It could also reduce the amount of CO2 released during the fuel burning process by absorbing certain amount of the gas during the growing phase (CO2 is essential for photosynthesis). Algal fuel is much cheaper than conventional fuel and it can be produced easily (waste water as substrate is also an option). It’s biodegradable and wouldn’t affect environment. Manufacturing process is simple. Lipids extracted out of the biomass are turned into biodiesel and bioethanol and biobutanol are end products of carbohydrate fermentation. Besides liquid fuels, methane and biogasoline can be derived as well. In any case biomass “leftovers” are used as an animal feedstock.

Algae are growing rapidly and produce huge amount of biomass in short time. They could be exploited in numerous ways. If we start acting smart and responsible, high production will be obvious in biofuel factories instead in the ocean and success in future renewable energy will be guaranteed.
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