Microalgae: Fast-Growth Sustainable Green Factories

Abstract

Microalgae are definitely on the way to become a sustainable, fast growing natural green source for highly demanded market products. Research is currently looking at promising outstanding applications of microalgae among which are the production of biofuels from the fatty acids present in biomass, functional foods enriched with microalgae healthy bioactive molecules, and greenhouse gas mitigation (CO2 consuming) based on high cell density microalgae cultures technology. Besides, other traditional microalgae applications are currently increasing in competitiveness in a growing market demand for green biomass, in which microalgae are widely recognized as a healthy, sustainable and biological renewable resource. Among these traditional applications, microalgae are being used to improve the nutritional quality in animal feed, particularly in aquaculture, therapeutic agent source and antioxidant activity. In addition, microalgae also show to be functional in waste effluents treatment to remove N and P, thus preventing eutrophication, heavy metals and others contaminants. This review intends to offer a comprehensive overview of basic aspects of microalgae physiology, massive production of biomass and current fields of applications at industrial scale.