Process characteristics, inhibition factors and methane yields of anaerobic digestion process, with particular focus on microalgal biomass fermentation

World's energy demand has been constantly increasing for decades. Yet, fossil fuels stock, which are used the most extensively nowadays, may be depleted soon. Moreover, combustion of conventional fuels leads to excessive carbon dioxide emission. This process causes multitude of unfavorable consequences for Earth's climate and biosphere. That is why the alternative fuel sources are searched and studied for years. One of the possibilities of obtaining renewable energy is biogas production from biomass through anaerobic digestion process. Anaerobic digestion is widely applied to treat various wastes and higher plants biomass. Laboratory-scale studies proved that microalgal biomass is also a feasible source of substrate for methane fermentation process. Microalgae are predominantly single cell photoautotrophic organisms that have the ability to proliferate rapidly and absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide at the same time. This characteristics indicate that these microorganisms can be an efficient source of biomass for biogas acquiring. Current study constitutes a comprehensive review which compares and summarizes studies concerning anaerobic digestion of microalgal biomass, specific factors and potential inhibitors that influence the process as well as it presents results of empirical studies. This review is based on the latest publications as well as on older esteemed literature. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.