Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production

The world energy crisis and increased greenhouse gas emissions have driven the search for alternative and environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. According to life cycle analysis, microalgae biofuel is identified as one of the major renewable energy sources for sustainable development, wi...

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Main Authors: Medipally, Srikanth Reddy, Md. Yusoff, Fatimah, Banerjee, Sanjoy, Mohamed Din, Mohamed Shariff
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/1/Microalgae%20as%20Sustainable%20Renewable%20Energy.pdf
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author Medipally, Srikanth Reddy
Md. Yusoff, Fatimah
Banerjee, Sanjoy
Mohamed Din, Mohamed Shariff
author_facet Medipally, Srikanth Reddy
Md. Yusoff, Fatimah
Banerjee, Sanjoy
Mohamed Din, Mohamed Shariff
author_sort Medipally, Srikanth Reddy
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The world energy crisis and increased greenhouse gas emissions have driven the search for alternative and environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. According to life cycle analysis, microalgae biofuel is identified as one of the major renewable energy sources for sustainable development, with potential to replace the fossil-based fuels. Microalgae biofuel was devoid of the major drawbacks associated with oil crops and lignocelluloses-based biofuels. Algae-based biofuels are technically and economically viable and cost competitive, require no additional lands, require minimal water use, and mitigate atmospheric CO2. However, commercial production of microalgae biodiesel is still not feasible due to the low biomass concentration and costly downstream processes. The viability of microalgae biodiesel production can be achieved by designing advanced photobioreactors, developing low cost technologies for biomass harvesting, drying, and oil extraction. Commercial production can also be accomplished by improving the genetic engineering strategies to control environmental stress conditions and by engineering metabolic pathways for high lipid production. In addition, new emerging technologies such as algal-bacterial interactions for enhancement of microalgae growth and lipid production are also explored. This review focuses mainly on the problems encountered in the commercial production of microalgae biofuels and the possible techniques to overcome these difficulties.
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spelling upm-345092015-12-15T07:33:25Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/ Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production Medipally, Srikanth Reddy Md. Yusoff, Fatimah Banerjee, Sanjoy Mohamed Din, Mohamed Shariff The world energy crisis and increased greenhouse gas emissions have driven the search for alternative and environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. According to life cycle analysis, microalgae biofuel is identified as one of the major renewable energy sources for sustainable development, with potential to replace the fossil-based fuels. Microalgae biofuel was devoid of the major drawbacks associated with oil crops and lignocelluloses-based biofuels. Algae-based biofuels are technically and economically viable and cost competitive, require no additional lands, require minimal water use, and mitigate atmospheric CO2. However, commercial production of microalgae biodiesel is still not feasible due to the low biomass concentration and costly downstream processes. The viability of microalgae biodiesel production can be achieved by designing advanced photobioreactors, developing low cost technologies for biomass harvesting, drying, and oil extraction. Commercial production can also be accomplished by improving the genetic engineering strategies to control environmental stress conditions and by engineering metabolic pathways for high lipid production. In addition, new emerging technologies such as algal-bacterial interactions for enhancement of microalgae growth and lipid production are also explored. This review focuses mainly on the problems encountered in the commercial production of microalgae biofuels and the possible techniques to overcome these difficulties. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/1/Microalgae%20as%20Sustainable%20Renewable%20Energy.pdf Medipally, Srikanth Reddy and Md. Yusoff, Fatimah and Banerjee, Sanjoy and Mohamed Din, Mohamed Shariff (2015) Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production. Biomedical Research International, 2015. art. no. 519513. pp. 1-13. ISSN 2314-6133; ESSN: 2314-6141 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2015/519513/abs/ 10.1155/2015/519513
spellingShingle Medipally, Srikanth Reddy
Md. Yusoff, Fatimah
Banerjee, Sanjoy
Mohamed Din, Mohamed Shariff
Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
title Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
title_full Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
title_fullStr Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
title_full_unstemmed Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
title_short Microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
title_sort microalgae as a sustainable renewable energy feedstock for biofuel production
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/34509/1/Microalgae%20as%20Sustainable%20Renewable%20Energy.pdf