Abstract
Microalgal biofuels provide a feasible alternative of fossil fuels and have the capability to meet the ever-increasing global energy demand. However, their pilot scale applicability is yet to achieve economic sustainability and overcome several technical issues for realizing their true potentials. This chapter outlines some of the key issues during various stages of upstream as well as downstream processing for algal biofuel generation. It starts with providing an overview of the global energy crisis and the need for finding sustainable alternatives of fossil fuels. The role of biofuels towards this objective is discussed, while highlighting the superiority of algal biofuels over other sources. An overview is provided of the key challenges faced by the algal biofuels industries in achieving a techno-economic sustainability. An in-depth discussion is provided for major issues faced in individual stages involved during such production at pilot scale, including algal biomass production, biomass harvesting and processing of harvested biomass for biofuel production. Further, the current efforts for tackling these issues for achieving techno-economic sustainability of algal biofuels are also highlighted. The chapter concludes with summarizing the discussion.
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