Insights about sustainable biodiesel production from microalgae biomass: A review

Abstract

Production of biodiesel from microalgae can be categorized as a symbiotic engineering solution focusing on energy and environmental problems. This review presents a collection of recent methods adopted for the production of biodiesel from microalgae. Microalgae are tiny cell factories which yield a large quantity of biomass by employing different methods of cultivation and using different types of harvesting techniques. Different strategies like nutrient starvation and micronutrient supplementation for hyper lipid accumulation to produce biodiesel for competing with the high market demand for fossil fuel are discussed. The use of different cultivation techniques for increasing the algal biomass in the recent scenario is focused. Also, improvement in the design strategies of bioreactors like the open pond, photobioreactors, and hybrid systems is included in the review. Further, diverse technologies for lipid improvement, including manipulating the bioprocess parameters and genetic engineering, are addressed. Also, microalgae for biorefinery approaches solve pollution problems, and its biomass can be used for biodiesel production which is elaborated in detail. The possibility of production of biodiesel from microalgae at a larger scale by overcoming the main bottlenecks in different steps of algal growth like high biomass cultivation, investment factor, and implementation of biorefinery approaches to address the current energy demand is also proposed.

Accumulation of starch in duckweeds (Lemnaceae), potential energy plants

“…Contemporary ''energy plants'' include oilseed crops (e.g., rapeseed, Barbados nut, Chinese pistache, yellowhorn) and several microalgae that are used for biodiesel production (Salvi and Panwar 2012;Rahul et al 2020). The energy basis of other plants is starch (e.g., maize, rice, wheat, cassava), sugars (e.g., sugar cane, sugar beets) or lignocellulose (e.g., Chinese silvergrass, switchgrass, poplar and bamboo species) (Li et al 2010;Xie and Peng 2011;Chen and Zhang 2015).…”

Approach to microalgal biodiesel production: Insight review on recent advancements and future outlook

“…Microalgae are considered as a lucrative lipid feedstock for biodiesel production because of the following advantages over the plant oils: Microalgae synthesize and accumulate large quantities of intracellular lipid content and grow at high rates. The oil yield per area of microalgae cultures could greatly exceed the yield of the best oilseed crops 26 Microalgae can be cultivated in saline/brackish water/coastal seawater on non‐arable land, and do not compete for resources with conventional agriculture. Microalgae tolerate marginal lands that are not suitable for conventional agriculture. Microalgae utilize nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of wastewater sources, providing the additional benefit of wastewater bioremediation 27 …”

“…• Microalgae utilize nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of wastewater sources, providing the additional benefit of wastewater bioremediation. 27 Figure 3 portrays a flowchart indicating stepwise microalgae biomass to biodiesel synthesis strategies.…”

Development of sustainable bioproducts from microalgae biomass: Current status and future perspectives

“…However, the existing system of producing food and supporting products that cannot meet the current needs of humans. To combat the shortage of the existing and future world, it is imperative to obtain various alternatives or technological innovations that could ramp up production (Rahul et al 2020). Microalgae is an appropriate answer to the aforementioned challenges because of its major advantages.…”