ABSTRACT
The uncontrolled carbon dioxide (CO2) emission is increasing every day due to human activities and the rapid industrial revolution. However, mainly oil-producing countries, and highly populated and industrialized countries, are the highest emitters of CO2. At present, CO2 concentration is approximately 408 ppm in the environment, which causes several ecological issues, like global warming, and disturbs the fauna and flora of the Earth. Therefore, many approaches (physical, chemical, and biological) are used to solve this major ecological threat and reduce CO2 concentration in the ecosystem. Among the available approaches, biological CO2 mitigation process is more feasible as compared to physical and chemical approaches due to low cost and zero emission of other pollutants. Mainly, plants, cyanobacteria, and microalgae generally fix CO2 from the atmosphere and utilize it as a carbon source for their growth. Recently, microalgal cultivation has gained tremendous research interest worldwide, due to their high growth rates, higher CO2 sequestration rate, and the accumulation of high-value-added compounds during the growth phase. Moreover, microalgal-based CO2 sequestering system can be developed at the industrial sites. The microalgal sequestering system is considered as a green technology for capturing CO2 from the industrial flue gases exhaust for biomass production. Moreover, the biomass of microalgae can be utilized in nutraceuticals, cosmetic and energy sectors, which can improve the economic viability of microalgal-based CO2 mitigation process. Thus, this chapter discusses the microalgal-based system for atmospheric CO2 capture and the application of algal biomass to improve the economic viability.
