In addition to lipids, microalgae can produce some value-added bioactive substances, such as polysaccharides, proteins and pigments. Therefore, microalgae have good prospects in the food, feed, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. If a biorefinery approach that converts microalgae to wide range of products including biodiesel and value-added products, it will significantly improve the economic outlook of microalgae based fuels production.

1.7 CONCLUSIONS

Microalgae are a sustainable energy resource with great potential for CO2 fixation and wastewater purification. This review discusses current status and anticipated future developments in the microalgae to biodiesel approach. For biodiesel production to have a significant impact on re­newable fuels standards, technologies must be developed to enable large scale algae biomass production. The strategies for both high biomass and lipid productivities are discussed. Further efforts on microalgae biodiesel production should focus on reducing costs in large-scale algal biomass production systems. Combining microalgae mixotrophic cultivation with sequestration of CO2 from flue gas and wastewater treatment, and taking the biorefinery approach to algal biomass conversion will improve the en­vironmental and economic viability.