What Kinds Of Plants Are Slippery?

Microalgae: the new darling of biofuels

Have you ever considered what kinds ofplants are slippery? Although cyanobacteria generate weak electrical currents,the energy potential unleashed by cyanobacteria holds great promise forapplication in the Internet of Everything and the digital world, if thelimitations of scale and technology are addressed.

So, what kinds of plants are slippery? We knowthat devices require sustainable, low-cost, decentralized electrical energy toprovide a power source. Although the power consumption of a single IoT deviceis very low, ranging from just microwatts to milliwatts, if we look at all IoTdevices statistically, their number has reached billions and will statisticallyincrease to a trillion by 2035, which also means that the energy and materialresources consumed behind the scenes are huge. The use of cyanobacteria, alow-pollution, low-cost, sustainable biological resource, will also contributeto a low-carbon, sustainable future.

On May 10th, the National Development andReform Commission (NDRC) also issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for theDevelopment of Bioeconomy" (hereinafter referred to as "the Plan")for the first time, emphasizing the need for the development of bioeconomy andgiving priority to the development of biomedicine, bio-agriculture, biomass Thefour key areas are: biomedicine, bio-agriculture, biomass substitution, andbiosecurity.

"In the Plan, synthetic biology isregarded as one of the national strategic scientific and technological forcesto accelerate the development of bioeconomy innovation, and has been mentionedseveral times. Scientists explore what kinds of plants are slippery.

The current synthetic biology using themain biological sources include E. coli, yeast and microalgae, etc..Microalgae, with their diversity of species and products, efficientphotosynthesis and carbon sequestration capacity, have become a highly regardedsubstrate for pedestal-like organisms in the field of synthetic biology.

Common microalgae can replace crops such ascorn in food processing and feed. For example, according to studies, theprotein yield of microalgae is 4-15 tons per hectare per year, which is muchhigher than the protein yield of wheat and beans at 0.6-1.2 tons per hectareper year. Microalgae can alleviate the food crisis due to climate impacts andlack of human resources.

In recent years, microalgae have alsobecome a new favorite for biofuels. Algae can fix carbon dioxide in the atmospherethrough photosynthesis and convert it into sugars and plant proteins, as wellas generate hydrogen and purify wastewater through reactions, which can providea cheaper, more environmentally friendly and sustainable way of energy supplyand carbon sequestration for human beings, and have a strong potential to be noweaker than other energy sources in all kinds of clean energy.

With the combined efforts of policy andtechnology, and riding on the east wind of low carbon and sustainability,microalgae will also release great energy in the development process ofsynthetic biology and realize the main supply of biofuel in the future.

A little more possibility of aliencolonization

In the application of microalgae, fromcarbon sequestration to discharge to food replenishment, corresponding toenvironmental protection, energy, and food crisis, are the most importantdevelopment dilemmas we need to solve at present. For living organisms,sustainable survival is the goal of life reproduction and evolution. The growthprocess of microalgae can cover and provide a solution to these threedevelopmental dilemmas simultaneously. Some experimental data verifies whatkinds of plants are slippery.

In the evolution of biotechnology, if thetechnical limitations and scale challenges of microalgae current developmentare solved, the whole growth of microalgae can be designed in a closed-loopsystem: microalgae capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere underphotosynthesis and convert it into proteins and glycolipids, etc. in algalcells, while they can provide electricity and release oxygen.

It is now recognized that over 300,000species of microalgae exist on Earth, of which 30,000 are recorded, but only adozen species, such as Spirulina and Chlorella, have been commerciallyexploited. There is still a large market for the entire microalgae industry.According to Credence Research Institute, the global algae products market wasworth $33.9 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $56.5 billion by 2027,growing at a CAGR of 6.0% from 2019 to 2027. The future hundred billion dollarblue ocean market for microalgae will come into the spotlight and gain moreattention from academia, industry, and investment circles.

Microalgae are extremely tolerant andadaptable, and the closed-loop system requires simple raw materials, just waterand light, without the need for arable land, fertilizers, pesticides, and largeamounts of fresh water, avoiding many common ecological damages such asdeforestation, biodiversity loss, and desertification pollution. And the waterused in the production of microalgae can be harvested and reused.

The efficiency of microalgae for CO2fixation and photosynthesis mechanism gives new opportunities and windows forhuman sustainable development. The current applications of microalgae aremainly in high value-added products, including medical and food fields. Forexample, the biosynthesis of some microalgae, gene testing, the development ofalgae green sustainable food, etc.. In the future, we will focus onbreakthroughs in energy technology applications, such as power generation andhigh efficiency carbon sequestration, as we mentioned above.

The current research focus of algaetechnologists in biosynthesis is to break through the technical limitations ofsynthetic biology, develop new photobioreactor systems, and new microalgaeculture paradigms to unlock the potential of microalgae for energy applicationsand to realize future large-scale production as soon as possible. Microalgaecan solve all kinds of crises on Earth, and have huge commercial space for deepspace exploration in the universe.

With a bigger brainstorm, a closed-loopsystem using microalgae on Mars could also support some of the human activitieson Mars. The main gas in the atmosphere of Mars is carbon dioxide, whichoccupies 96% of the atmosphere. If this closed-loop system of microalgae couldbe transplanted to Mars, there would be no problem for a small number ofresearchers to move around on Mars while carrying enough water.

If we look at deep space exploration, themicroalgae system can also support our activities in the solar system. Thegases we expel in our breath are mainly nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen.Among some known microalgae, there are more than seventy species that can fixnitrogen, and these cyanobacteria release oxygen while fixing nitrogen, whichis also a way that can support human deep space exploration. Although theseconditions are idealized, the development of science is based on theseidealized settings, which is the goal and motivation of future scientificresearch.

Ancient algae with billions of lives havesupported and fed countless lives, ushering in all kinds of changes over theyears of the Earth's evolution. In the modern era of rapid technologicalchange, we have the tools to explore and develop microalgae more deeply, and thisancient life will continue to support us towards green, sustainable future anddeep space.