ABSTRACT
To tackle the issue of rising fossil fuel demand along with concerns over mitigating climate change, the quest to find new and renewable sources of energy is ongoing all over the world. Along with the environmental aspect, economic feasibility of the new technologies also needs to be studied. Growth of microalgae in wastewater treatment systems can help in reducing organic load of the wastewater and can lead to simultaneous oil production. The oil/lipids produced by oleaginous algae can be extracted using different posttreatment processes to convert the biomass into biofuel. This chapter discusses different wastewater treatment processes, including high-rate algal ponds and photobioreactors with algal biomass growth. Different types of strains that can be used in these processes to enhance oil recovery are presented. The factors affecting the growth of microbes in such systems and their different variations are discussed. Lastly, various treatment processes for conversion of biomass to biofuel are discussed with a focus on thermochemical treatment processes.
