Microalgae lipid research, past, present: A critical review for biodiesel production, in the future

Biodiesel has received much attention in recent years. The motivation for renewable fuel is not just energy independence but also mitigation of global climate disruption, which has been called “the deficiency challenge of our era” Energy, is essential and vital for development, and the global economy literally runs on energy. Although numerous reports are available on the production of biodiesel from vegetable oils of terrestrial oil-plants, such as soybean, sunflower and palm oils the use of fossil fuels as energy now widely accepted as unsustainable due to depleting resources   and also due to the accumulation of green house gases in the environment. Biodiesel demand is constantly increasing as the reservoir of fossil fuel are depleting. Unfortunately biodiesel production from oil crop, waste cooking oil and animal fats are not able to replace fossil fuel. The viability of the first generation biofuel production is however questionable because of the conflict with food supply. The manuscript is an attempt to review the potential of microalgae in lipid production and provides a brief summary of genes which enhances the lipid synthesis and biomass productivity of different species of micro algae.

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