Technologies for harvesting the microalgae for industrial applications: Current trends and perspectives

Microalgae are emerging as a promising source for augmenting the supply of essential products to meet global demands in an environmentally sustainable manner. Despite the potential benefits of microalgae in industry, the high energy consumption for harvesting remains a significant obstacle. This review offers a comprehensive overview of microalgae harvesting technologies and their industrial applications, with particular emphasis on the latest advances in flocculation techniques. These cutting-edge methods have been applied to biodiesel production, food and nutraceutical processing, and wastewater treatment. Large-scale harvesting is still severely impeded by the high cost despite progress has been made in laboratory studies. In the future, cost-effective microalgal harvesting will rely on efficient resource utilization, including the use of waste materials and the reuse of media and flocculants. Additionally, precise regulation of biological metabolism will be necessary to overcome algal species-related limitations through the development of extracellular polymeric substanceinduced flocculation technology.

Automated summary

Microalgae are being recognized as a promising source for meeting global demands sustainably. However, the high energy consumption for harvesting is a major obstacle. This review provides an overview of microalgae harvesting technologies, focusing on the latest advances in flocculation techniques. These methods have been applied in biodiesel production, food processing, nutraceuticals, and wastewater treatment. Large-scale harvesting faces challenges due to high costs, but cost-effective strategies such as resource utilization and extracellular polymeric substance-induced flocculation technology can be explored for efficient microalgal harvesting.