Microalgae are photosynthetic, heterotrophic organisms that have an extraordinary potential for cultivation as energy crops. Microalgae are potential source of biomass, which may have great biodiversity and consequent variability in their biochemical composition (Satyanarayana et al., 2011). Under difficult agro-climatic conditions and are able to produce a wide range of commercially interestin...

Mathematical models for wastewater treatment ponds and photobioreactors are increasing in popularity for design of new systems and for improving understanding of the complex biokinetic processes occurring inside. However, models in these systems are still not a common practice because the complex bioprocesses and hydrodynamics make them very difficult to translate into accurate mathematic descr...

Microalgae are able to convert nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from wastewater into biomass and bio-products, thus improving the sustainability of wastewater treatment. In High Rate Algal Ponds (HRAP), biomass productivity and water treatment efficiency are highly dependent on environmental parameters such as temperature, light intensity and photoperiod. The influence of temperature and pho...

Microalgae are one of the most promising renewable energy sources with environmental sustainability. The surface free energy of microalgal cells determines their biofouling and bioflocculation behavior and hence plays an important role in microalgae cultivation and harvesting. To date, the surface energetic properties of microalgal cells are still rarely studied. We developed a novel spectropho...

Microalgae play indeed a crucial nutritional role with regard to marine animals in the open sea, and consequently in aquaculture. Most marine invertebrates depend on microalgae for their whole life cycle, so commercial and experimental mollusc or fish hatcheries have included a microalga production system in parallel to their animal production itself. Microalgae are utilized as live feed for al...

Microalgae show an enormous potential as sustainable feedstock for numerous bioproducts. The current work analyzes the feasibility of business cases for different markets of products from microalgae. We perform a techno-economic evaluation of the whole process chain including cultivation, biorefinery and market exploitation for a 100 hectares facility in six locations. Our projections show a cu...

Microalgae are the fledging feedstocks yielding raw materials for the production of third generation biofuel. Assorted and conventional cell wall disruption techniques were helpful in extracting lipids and carbohydrates, nevertheless the disadvantages have led the biotechnologists to explore new process to lyse cell wall in a faster and an economical manner. Silver nanoparticles have the abilit...

Biodiesel production using microalgae is attractive in a number of respects. Here a number of pros and cons to using microalgae for biofuels production are reviewed. Algal cultivation can be carried out using non-arable land and non-potable water with simple nutrient supply. In addition, algal biomass productivities are much higher than those of vascular plants and the extractable content of li...

Microalgae have the potential to utilize the nutrients in the wastewater for its growth and serve as a primary feedstock for the production of value added products. A feasibility study has been conducted to determine the capability of the microalgae (Chlorella sp) to grow in sewage without sterilization in a laboratory scale batch process under the continuous illumination of light. In the prese...