Potential biotechnological application of microalgae: a critical review

Abstract

Microalgae are diverse microorganisms inhabiting a wide range of habitats with only a small fraction being cultivated for human use. Recently, interest in microalgal research has increased in the quest for alternative renewable fuels due to possible depletion of fossil fuels in the near future. However, costly downstream processing has hampered the commercialization of biofuels derived from microalgae. Several value added products of industrial, pharmaceutical and agricultural relevance could be simultaneously derived from microalgae during bioenergy production. Despite these value-added products having the potential to offset the high cost of downstream processing of renewable fuels, their production has not been explored in-depth. This review presents a critical overview of the current state of biotechnological applications of microalgae for human benefit and highlights possible areas for further research and development.

Overview of Carbon Capture Technology: Microalgal Biorefinery Concept and State-of-the-Art

“…The carbohydrate part (mainly glucose, starch, cellulose, and hemicellulose) of the microalgal dry biomass can be used for transforming into bioethanol via fermentation. Although, microalgae accumulate relatively low quantities of sugars, the absence of lignin from microalgal structure makes them advantageous over other feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, and lignocellulosic biomass (Odjadjare et al, 2015;Jambo et al, 2016). Isochrysis galbana, Porphyridium cruentum, Spirogyra sp., Nannochloropsis oculate, Chlorella sp., are mainly exploited microalgae for the production of carbohydrates (Markou and Nerantzis, 2013).…”

Microalgae, old sustainable food and fashion nutraceuticals

“…These molecules can be defined as nutrients from food products that not only supplement the diet but also facilitate the prevention or treatment of a disease and/or disorder. Recent articles review the state of the art on the biotechnological production and use of microalgae (Chew et al, 2017;Odjadjare et al, 2017), but specially as food and feed (Yaakob et al, 2014;Liu and Chen, 2016;Bleakley and Hayes, 2017), and nutraceuticals (Nicoletti, 2016;Yan et al, 2016;Bilal et al, 2017;Wells et al, 2017). The aim of this article was to provide an overview of the current challenges on the use of microalgae as food, feed and nutraceutical products.…”

Valuable bioproducts obtained from microalgal biomass and their commercial applications: A review

“…Based on the UV-Visible absorption spectra, four main classes of phycobiliproteins exist namely phycocyanin, allophycocyanin, phycoerythrin and phycoerythrocyanin [39]. The market value of phycocyanin alone reached between 5-10 million US$ [40]. The major sources of phycobiliproteins include Spirulina sp., Arthrospira platensis, and Amphanizomenon floa-aquae.…”