Biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock: from strains to biodiesel

Abstract

Due to negative environmental influence and limited availability, petroleum-derived fuels need to be replaced by renewable biofuels. Biodiesel has attracted intensive attention as an important biofuel. Microalgae have numerous advantages for biodiesel production over many terrestrial plants. There are a series of consecutive processes for biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock, including selection of adequate microalgal strains, mass culture, cell harvesting, oil extraction and transesterification. To reduce the overall production cost, technology development and process optimization are necessary. Genetic engineering also plays an important role in manipulating lipid biosynthesis in microalgae. Many approaches, such as sequestering carbon dioxide from industrial plants for the carbon source, using wastewater for the nutrient supply, and maximizing the values of by-products, have shown a potential for cost reduction. This review provides a brief overview of the process of biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock. The methods associated with this process (e.g. lipid determination, mass culture, oil extraction) are also compared and discussed.

Influence of organic matter on flocculation of Chlorella vulgaris by calcium phosphate precipitation

“…Microalgae have a higher areal productivity than agricultural crops while using less land 44 and water, therefore they are a promising novel source of biomass for production of 45 biofuels [1]. At present, however, the costs and energy requirements for algal biomass 46 production are too high for microalgal biofuels to compete with first generation biofuels…”

An Insight on Algal Cell Disruption for Biodiesel Production

“…The major steps involved in the generation of biodiesel using algae are the cultivation of algae, harvesting, lipid extraction by cell disruption, and lipid transesterification [14]. Fig.…”

Produção de Bioetanol Utilizando Microalgas: Uma Revisão

“…A partir da biomassa microalgal podem ser produzidos os dois tipos de biocombustíveis líquidos, o bioetanol através da sacarificação dos carboidratos da biomassa (MIRANDA; PASSARINHO; GOUVEIA, 2012) e o biodiesel através dos lipídios (CHISTI, 2008;GONG;JIANG, 2011). Objetivouse realizar uma revisão de literatura da aplicação de microrganismos para a produção de bioetanol, com ênfase para as microalgas.…”