Development of Microalgae-based Biofuels as a Viable Green Energy Source: Challenges and Future Perspectives

This paper presents a comprehensive account of the harvesting and processing technologies of microalgae and their applications in developing biofuels such as biodiesel, ethanol, biogas, syngas, and hydrogen. Microalgae have been reflected as an environmental pollution controlling agent due to their faster growth rate, making them a viable alternative to replace the current uses of non-renewable sources. The significantly large volumes of microalgae culture required for bio products are highlighted as a major concern of the complexity at the harvesting stage. At present, there are hardly any single methods that could generally be applied for processing the broad range of microalgae species with varying characteristics. Improvements are also required to effectively minimize the energy and cost required for the microalgae processing methods to be applicable at a commercial scale. By improving the techniques used at the harvesting stage, the costs associated with further processing steps to produce microalgae-based bio products and biofuels could be reduced. Future studies should also focus on identifying better algae strains that produce a high yield of good quality biofuel to economically viable algae biofuel.

Automated summary

This paper provides a comprehensive account of the harvesting and processing technologies of microalgae and their applications in biofuel production. Microalgae, due to their faster growth rate, are considered as a viable alternative in controlling environmental pollution. However, the significantly large volumes of microalgae culture required for bio products pose a major challenge at the harvesting stage. Currently, there is a lack of single methods that can be universally applied to process different microalgae species. Improvements in energy and cost reduction are needed to make microalgae processing methods commercially applicable. Enhancing techniques used at the harvesting stage can help reduce the costs associated with further processing steps to produce microalgae-based bio products and biofuels. Future studies should focus on identifying high-yielding microalgae strains that are economically viable for biofuel production.