This book is about biofuels from microalgae. Microalgae have been used com­mercially for decades, but not for producing biofuels. Interest in algal fuels has seen a spectacular reawakening within the last 10-years. Several factors are driving the renewed quest for algal fuels: Concern about depletion of petroleum; the desire for energy independence; the need for carbon neutral renewable fuels that can be produced with­out compromising the supply of food and freshwater; and the need to prevent further deforestation. Algal fuels are not yet com­mercial and may not reach the market for long time or near-future. Nevertheless, they represent a strategic opportunity that must be persistently developed into a renewable and environmentally sustainable source of high-energy density liquid fuels.

The present book, which is the third book in the series on BIOMASS beingpublished by us, presents up-to-date state-of-art informa­tion and knowledge by the internationally recognized experts and subject peers in var­ious areas of algal biofuels. The 14 chapters of the book attempt to address many of the key issues relating to algal biofuels. Algal culture systems — open ponds as well as the closed photobioreactors — are discussed. Genetic and metabolic engineering of algae for enhanced capabilities in production of fuels are examined. Aspects of carbon fixation in industrially important microalgae are discussed. Technologies for recovering the biomass from the culture broth are assessed.

A chapter is devoted to heterotrophic produc­tion of algal oils as potential fuels. Production of fuels via fast pyrolysis of algal biomass is treated in some detail. An overview is provided of algal oils as fuels in one chapter. A chapter considers production of biohydro­gen from microalgae. Any production of algal fuels must consider the fate of the spent biomass. This is discussed in one chapter. A chapter is focused on the hydrothermal treatment of algal biomass to produce hydro­carbon fuels. Scale-up of production and com­mercialization aspects of algal fuels are examined in one chapter. A chapter discusses the life-cycle assessment of algal fuels. Changes in technology in this rapidly develop­ing field are bound to greatly diminish the environmental impact of future algal fuel production. Finally, a chapter assesses in some depth the economics of microalgal biomass production. Continuing developments will surely reduce the cost of producing algal fuels in the future.

The book would be of special interest to the post-graduate students and researchers of applied biology, biotechnology, microbiol­ogy, biochemical and chemical engineers working on algal biofuels. It is expected that the current discourse on biofuels R&D would go a long way in bringing out the exciting technological possibilities and ush­ering the readers towards the frontiers of knowledge in the area of biofuels and this book will be helpful in achieving this dis­course for algal biofuels.

We thank authors of all the articles for their cooperation and also for their prepared­ness in revising the manuscripts in a time­framed manner. We also acknowledge the help from the reviewers, who in spite of their busy professional activities, helped us by evaluating the manuscripts and gave their critical inputs to refine and improve the arti­cles. We warmly thank Dr Marinakis Kostas and Dr Anita Koch and the team of Elsevier for their cooperation and efforts in produc­ing this book.

Ashok Pandey Duu-Jong Lee Yusuf Chisti Carlos Ricardo Soccol Editors