Processing of Microalgae to Biofuels

Abstract Microalgae are widely regarded as one of the most promising and sustainable raw materials, especially for biofuels. However, the full exploitation of microalgae resources is significantly hindered through the lack of the eco-friendly microalgae harvesting due to the microalgae cultures that are incredibly diluted, as well as the small particulate size of microalgae cells, thus hindering the production and commercialization of microalgae-based products. This chapter provides a brief summarization of current technologies of algal biomass harvesting and dewatering, components extraction, and products conversion. These technologies are aimed to reduce the cost of downstream processes and promote environmental protection. Also, common microalgae-derived products including biodiesel, hydrogen, biogas, syngas, pigments, and fatty acids are described.