Abstract
Energy security has become a serious global issue and a lot of research is being carried out to look for economocially viable and environment-friendly alternatives. The only solution that appears to to meet the futuristic needs is the use of renewable energy. Although various forms of renewable energy are being currently used, the prospects of producing carbon-neutral biofuels from microalgae appears bright because of its unique features such as suitability of growing in open ponds required for production of a commodity product, high CO2-sequestering capability, ability to grow in wastewater/seawater/brackishwater and high lipid productivity. The major process constraint in the microalgal biofuel technology is the cost-effective and efficient extraction of lipids. The objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive review on various methods of lipid extraction from microalgae available till date, as well as to discuss their advantages and disadvantages. The article covers all areas of lipid extraction procedures including solvent extraction procedures, mechanical approaches and solvent-free procedures apart from some of the latest extraction technologies. A lot more research efforts are required in this area for successful implementation of this technology at a production scale.
Highlights
Environmental concerns and alarming energy crises are the major issues of the twenty-first century
CONCLUDING REMARKS Successful commercialization of this technology relies on optimization of microalgal growth, effective lipid extraction, and conversion of the same to biodiesel
Solvent extraction methods are most commonly used for lipid extraction as they provide the highest lipid recovery
Summary
Environmental concerns and alarming energy crises are the major issues of the twenty-first century. 85% of the energy, which we use, is obtained from fossil fuels, i.e., in the form of oil, coal, and natural gas, whereas renewable energy sources and nuclear power contributed only 13.5 and 6.5%, respectively, to the total energy needs in 2007 (Asif and Muneer, 2007; Khan et al, 2009; Arumugam et al, 2011a). This situation has led us to solely depend on fossil fuels to sustain the energy requirements. An alarming concern is that the natural source of fossil fuel is finite and it is depleting very rapidly due to uncontrolled consumption, indicating the non-renewable nature of fossil fuels as energy sources
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