Microalgae for biofuel production

Abstract

Microalgae have been used commercially since the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the Far East for human health foods and in the United States for wastewater treatment. Initial attempts to produce bulk chemicals such as biofuels from microalgae were not successful, despite commercially favorable conditions during the 1970s oil crisis. However, research initiatives at this time, many using extremophilic microalgae and cyanobacteria (e.g., Dunaliella and Spirulina), did solve many problems and clearly identified biomass productivity and harvesting as the two main constraints stopping microalgae producing bulk chemicals, such as biofuels, on a large scale. In response to the growing unease around global warming, induced by anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, microalgae were again suggested as a carbon neutral process to produce biofuels. This recent phase of microalgae biofuels research can be thought to have started around 2007, when a very highly cited review by Chisti was published. Since 2007, a large body of scientific publications have appeared on all aspects of microalgae biotechnology, but with a clear emphasis on neutral lipid (triacylglycerol) synthesis and the use of neutral lipids as precursors for biodiesel production. In this review, the key research on microalgal biotechnology that took place prior to 2007 will be summarized and then the research trends post 2007 will be examined emphasizing the research into producing biodiesel from microalgae.

Keywords: Biodiesel; Biofuel; Biorefinery; Genetic manipulation; Microalgae; Mixotrophy; Photosynthetic efficiency; Triacylglycerol.