ABSTRACT
Algal biofuel production has renewed its interest in various fields of research and entrepreneurship in recent years. In this field, microalgae are the most agreeable biofuel feedstock. Microalgae are recognized for their high potential toward faster growth rate and relative biofuel production. The major steps in algal biofuel production comprise cultivation, harvesting, and conversion of unusable fuel. The cultivation of microalgae for fuel production comprises of two types of system: photoautotrophic algal culture system that includes light and carbon dioxide (CO2) as source for carbon and energy and heterotrophic algal culture system where microalgae grow in darkness. The commonly used harvesting methods are by gravity settlement or centrifugation. The biomass used for oil extraction through implementing a solvent extraction method and is further processed to biodiesel. In the current research on algal biofuels, newer steps are under development against the present restricting features of algal biofuel production from commercializing purposes. The integration of algal biology with culture cultivation engineering will also enhance the present scenarios and drawbacks in the algal production system and will 252take biofuels to another level of commercialization. The chapter emphasizes on the current methods used for the algal biofuel production and various advanced techniques used by the industries.
