The practical implementation of microalgal biodiesel: challenges and potential solutions.
2014
Sen Gupta, S. | Sharad Bhartiya | Yogendra Shastri
With conventional fossil energy reserves diminishing as well as atmospheric pollution increasing through excessive use of these resources, we need to switch to cleaner, renewable replacement sources of energy for a sustainable future. Bioenergy is a promising alternative among the different renewable energy sources, and microalgae in particular are of interest because of their various desirable properties. Microalgae can yield a very high lipid content, which can be processed to biodiesel. They can capture carbon dioxide and can be grown even on degraded land with waste water. Additionally, it is possible to generate a variety of products such as ethanol, biogas and pharmaceuticals from microalgae. Inspite of these promising attributes, its commercial scale implementation has been limited. Here, the major challenge is the relatively high cost associated with the entire process. Additionally, each of the processing steps exhibits several technological challenges. This paper reviews the details of each processing step to produce biodiesel from microalgae, with the emphasis on the different challenges, bottlenecks and technological barriers, as well as possible solutions to them. Various other potential uses of microalgae are also briefly discussed. The focus of this review article is on the underlying differences between theoretical and practical potential of an integrated microalgal biorefinery.
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