Recent advances in downstream processing of microalgae lipid recovery for biofuel production

Kuan Shiong Khoo; Kit Wayne Chew; Guo Yong Yew; Wai Hong Leong; Yee Ho Chai; Pau Loke Show; Wei-Hsin Chen

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122996

Recent advances in downstream processing of microalgae lipid recovery for biofuel production

Bioresour Technol. 2020 May:304:122996. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122996. Epub 2020 Feb 11.

Authors

Kuan Shiong Khoo¹, Kit Wayne Chew², Guo Yong Yew¹, Wai Hong Leong³, Yee Ho Chai⁴, Pau Loke Show¹, Wei-Hsin Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
² School of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
³ Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia.
⁴ Biomass Processing Laboratory, HICOE - Center for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of Self-Sustainable Building, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan; Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan; Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, Taiwan; Research Center for Energy Technology and Strategy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan. Electronic address: weihsinchen@gmail.com.

PMID: 32115347
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122996

Abstract

The world energy system faces two major challenges: the requirement for more energy and less carbon. It is important to address biofuels production as an alternative to the usage of fossil fuel by utilizing microalgae as the potential feedstock. Yet, the commercialization of microalgae remains contentious caused by factors relating to the life cycle assessment and feasibility of microalgae-based biofuels. This present review starts with an introduction to the benefits of microalgae, followed by intensive elaboration on microalgae cultivation parameters. Subsequently, the fundamental principle along with the advantages and disadvantages of various pretreatment techniques of microalgae were reviewed. In addition, the conventional and recent advances in lipid extraction techniques from microalgae were comprehensively evaluated. Comparative analysis regard to the gaps from previous studies was discussed point-by-point in each section. The effort presented in this review will provide an insight for future researches dealing with microalgae-biofuel production on downstream processing.

Keywords: Biofuel and bioenergy; Biotechnology; Downstream processing; Lipid extraction; Microalgae; Pretreatment.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biofuels
Biotechnology
Carbon
Fossil Fuels
Lipids
Microalgae*

Substances

Biofuels
Fossil Fuels
Lipids
Carbon