Sustainability and environmental concerns are major issues in the world today. It is now a
widely accepted necessity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from human activities contributing
to the green house effect and thus global warming.1 Transportation energy consumes about 27% of
worldwide primary energy;1 thus it is clear that a reduction in transportation and general enginebased
emissions can play a significant role in the mitigation of green house gas emissions.
Biofuel, as an alternative to petroleum transport fuels, has become essential to the reduction of
global warming caused by fossil fueled engines. The renewable and nontoxic properties of biofuel
make it a very promising alternative fuel. The production and use of biofuels contribute close-tozero
net carbon dioxide and sulfur into the atmosphere and emit fewer gaseous pollutants than
petroleum fuels.2,3 The use of microalgae as a source of biofuel production has gained enormous
research interests. Microalgae are able to photosynthetically convert carbon dioxide into potential
biofuel feedstocks, as well as food, feeds, and high value bioactives.4 Microalgal crops, unlike
other oil crops, are able to grow extremely fast and can double their biomass within a period of 24
h.4,5 Microalgae grow throughout the year and can be harvested continuously on insignificant land
in arid regions of the world while making use of water that is not suitable for conventional
agriculture.6 Unlike other sources of biofuel, the demand for a large area of land is greatly reduced
in the case of microalgae.1,4 This is proven by the fact that only between 1% and 3% of the total
U.S. crop area would be required to produce algal biomass that would satisfy 50% of U.S.
transport needs.4 Although studies have found that microalgae have definite advantages over
conventional biofuel sources, broad commercialization of microalgae sourced biofuel has been
restrained due to high costs of operation during processing. A particular aspect of the process that
involves high operational costs is the harvesting and dewatering steps, and this is mainly due to
Sustainability and environmental concerns are major issues in the world today. It is now awidely accepted necessity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from human activities contributingto the green house effect and thus global warming.1 Transportation energy consumes about 27% ofworldwide primary energy;1 thus it is clear that a reduction in transportation and general enginebasedemissions can play a significant role in the mitigation of green house gas emissions.Biofuel, as an alternative to petroleum transport fuels, has become essential to the reduction ofglobal warming caused by fossil fueled engines. The renewable and nontoxic properties of biofuelmake it a very promising alternative fuel. The production and use of biofuels contribute close-tozeronet carbon dioxide and sulfur into the atmosphere and emit fewer gaseous pollutants thanpetroleum fuels.2,3 The use of microalgae as a source of biofuel production has gained enormousresearch interests. Microalgae are able to photosynthetically convert carbon dioxide into potentialbiofuel feedstocks, as well as food, feeds, and high value bioactives.4 Microalgal crops, unlikeother oil crops, are able to grow extremely fast and can double their biomass within a period of 24h.4,5 Microalgae grow throughout the year and can be harvested continuously on insignificant landin arid regions of the world while making use of water that is not suitable for conventionalagriculture.6 Unlike other sources of biofuel, the demand for a large area of land is greatly reduced
in the case of microalgae.1,4 This is proven by the fact that only between 1% and 3% of the total
U.S. crop area would be required to produce algal biomass that would satisfy 50% of U.S.
transport needs.4 Although studies have found that microalgae have definite advantages over
conventional biofuel sources, broad commercialization of microalgae sourced biofuel has been
restrained due to high costs of operation during processing. A particular aspect of the process that
involves high operational costs is the harvesting and dewatering steps, and this is mainly due to
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