ABSTRACT

Global warming, air pollution, and energy security have been some of the most important public policy issues in recent years (Jacobson 2009, Wang et al. 2008, Yergin 2006). With the increasing global population, food security has also become a major public policy issue (Lal 2004). The development of biofuels generated from biomass has been a longawaited solution to these global problems (Demirbas 2007, Goldember 2007, Lynd et al. 1991). However, the development of early biofuels produced from agricultural plants such as sugar cane (Goldemberg 2007) and agricultural wastes such as corn stovers (Bothast and Schlicher 2005) has resulted in a series of substantial concerns about food security (Godfray et al. 2010). Therefore, the development of algal biofuels as a third-generation biofuel has been considered as a major solution for the global problems of global warming, air pollution, energy security, and food security (Chisti 2007, Demirbas 2007, Kapdan and Kargi 2006, Spolaore et al. 2006, Volesky and Holan 1995).