137Mitigations of Human Impacts through Technology
molecule of glycerol. Nearly 100% of their mass can be converted to biofuels.
FAs are the building blocks of lipids; they are synthesized by enzymes in the
chloroplasts of algae, of which the enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase is a key
in regulating lipid synthesis rates. Some of the photosynthetic microalgae
being studied for lipid production include Chlamydomonas vulgaris, C. rein-
hardtii, Scenedesmus sp., Nannochloropsis sp., Botryococcus braunii, Dunaliella
tertiolecta, Chlorella salina, and Chlorella sp.
Biofuel algae growth is generally done in a continuous, batch process. It
requires algae, water, sunlight, and nutrients. Nutrients consist of phosphorus,
nitrogen, CO
2
, car ...