Htet, May Zaw, Ling, Lim Yan, Yun, Sek Hui, and Olaganathan, Rajee (2013) Biofuel from microalgae: a review on the current status and future trends. International Journal of Advanced Biotechnology and Research, 4 (3). pp. 329-341.

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Abstract

The constant reliance on fossil fuel energy resources is unsustainable, due to both depleting world reserves and increasing green house gas emissions associated with their use and thus there are dynamic research at the global level envisioned at developing alternative renewable and potentially carbon neutral solid, liquid and gaseous biofuels as alternative energy resources. The contemporary knowledge and technology predictions have proved that among the third generation biofuels especially those derived from microalgae are considered the best reasonable alternative energy resource compared to undeniable drawbacks of first and second generation biofuels. Moreover, its efficiency to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and industrial gases which can efficiently utilize the nutrients present in wastewater and industrial effluents. Therefore, culturing algae provide several benefits such as providing biomass for the production of biofuels to sequester the atmospheric carbon, removing the nutrients from the wastewater and is not competing with agricultural land, water resources and food crops. This study reviewed the technologies underneath the microalgae-to-biofuels processes, focusing on the biomass production, harvesting, conversion technologies, and the lipid extraction methods. The genetics and molecular biotechnology aspects have also been briefly discussed. Though the economical assessment of algal biofuels is not attractive, it suggests them to be environmentally better than the fossil fuels.

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