Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 3 College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
  • 5 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Electronic address: PauLoke.Show@nottingham.edu.my
Bioresour Technol, 2020 May;304:122997.
PMID: 32094007 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122997

Abstract

Microalgae are autotroph organisms that utilise light energy to synthesize various high-value bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, proteins and lipids. Due to its fast growth rate and capability to survive in harsh environment, microalgae nowadays are applied in various industrial areas. The process of obtaining microalgae-based biomolecules starts with the selection of suitable microalgae strain, cultivation, followed by downstream processing of the biomass (i.e., pre-treatment, harvesting, extraction and purification). The end products of the processes are biofuels and other valuable bioproducts. Nevertheless, low production yield and high-cost downstream processes are the emerging bottlenecks which need to be addressed in the upscaling of extracted compounds from microalgae biomass. To conclude, tremendous efforts are required to overcome these challenges to revolutionize microalgae into a novel and green factory of different bioactive compounds for industrial necessities to satisfy and fulfil global demands.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.