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Plant Biotechnology and Global Sustainability - Part 4 of 4

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Key Findings and Perspective of the Future With increasing emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide and, given the damage this can cause us, it is of greater importance to combat this trend. Knowing this, plant biotechnology can play a crucial role, combining proactivity with knowledge. The use of biofuels such as biodiesel and their production through microalgae, and their use in the assimilation of greenhouse gases, bring us closer and closer to the light of a sustainable future at the end of the tunnel. In the end, these two approaches, both preventive and corrective, should be used in tune, a crucial advantage that could counteract the greatest setback that opposes further evolution of these technologies, cost. The growing interest in this area of plant biotechnology is a great hypothesis to dethrone the use of fossil fuels and delay the already irreversible effect of increased CO2 (Chisti, 2008, Demirbas, 2009, Solomon et al., 2009 ; Nigam and Singh 2011). A futu...
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Plant Biotechnology and Global Sustainability - Part 3 of 4

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Corrective Measures As previously mentioned, Carbon Dioxide is one of the most emitted gases and of greater impact at a global level. The preventive measure referred to in the previous post would be a great step in mitigating its emission into the environment, but would in no way eliminate it altogether. However, microalgae can continue to show value also in a damage correction perspective, now having an active role in the assimilation of this gas, being again chosen because of its greater efficiency in CO2 assimilation as compared to terrestrial plants (Nigam and Singh, 2011). Algae even assimilate 183 tonnes of carbon dioxide in a production of 100 tonnes of biomass (Chisti, 2008). Variables involved According to Chawla et al. (2014), there are several variables to consider when establishing a carbon sequestration system using algae. These include the type of algae to be used, the cultivation system and the method of collecting biomass. The type of cultivation system, ...
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Plant Biotechnology and Global Sustainability - Part 2 of 4

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Preventive measures One way of dealing with the problem of air pollution could be to cut off evil at the root and directly change its main source. Since transport is a major contributor, because of the type of fuel they use, one strategy is to change that fuel. This is where biofuels come on the scene, as they are a source of renewable energy, emit less harmful gases than other fuels (Ghasemi et al., 2012). Biofuels Biodiesel and bioethanol are the main biofuels in the market, being, respectively, made from biomass rich in lipids and starch (Ghasemi et al., 2012). The highest production of these compounds comes from Brazil, from sugarcane in the case of bioethanol, and oil palm in the case of biodiesel (National Geographic), both of which are, to a lesser extent, also produced from microalgae. Among these two, biodiesel presents the best chance of being able to substitute fossil fuels (Chisti, 2008). One of the main reasons is that it can be used as a blend or alone in d...
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Plant Biotechnology and Global Sustainability - Part 1 of 4

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11.2 billion. According to Roser and Ortiz-Ospina (2013) will be the number of people with whom we will share our planet in 2100. This includes land, water, air and all other natural and non-natural resources. As the population grows, so does the global need for food and consequently industry, leading proportionally to an increase in pollution. Of the various types that exist, air pollution can affect a large part of the world's population, even if it does not live near its source, being able to be present in its daily life, implying for example the worsening of diseases. In 2012, it caused about 3 million premature deaths (World Health Organization, 2016). One of the main sources of air pollution at a global level is transports (Karagulian et al., 2015), which means that both the production of the fuel and the release of gases by the means of transport releases harmful compounds to the environment, such as Carbon Dioxide (Kahn et al., 2007). This gas is very problematic due t...
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