Biofuels from microalgae

Khushbu Salian, Vladimir Strezov

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Depleting petroleum reserves and increasing rate of consumption have necessitated the search for alternative environmentally friendly CO 2-neutral fuels. Many crops and nonfood plants were used for the production of biofuel, but microalgal biomass has shown added advantages over crop-based biodiesel. This article investigates and comprehends each production process for biodiesel production from microalgae in detail and also identifies the existing challenges. The major challenge for biofuel production is translating laboratory-scale findings to full-scale application. Large-scale microalgae cultivation for the production of biofuels has been a challenge in the past two decades. Many of the techniques developed are species dependent and also consume large amount of energy. The article also provides the advantages and disadvantages of each of the techniques developed for a particular stage of the production process. There are still a number of challenges in the production process of biofuel from microalgae and hence, requires further investigation to develop an optimized process.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEncyclopedia of sustainable technologies
    EditorsMartin A. Abraham
    PublisherElsevier
    Pages107-120
    Number of pages14
    Volume3
    ISBN (Electronic)9780128047927
    ISBN (Print)9780128046777
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • Algae
    • Biodiesel
    • Biofuels
    • Biosynthesis
    • Lipids
    • Photobioreactors
    • Pyrolysis
    • Renewable energy
    • Transesterification

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