title: Integration of microalgae cultivation with industrial waste remediation for biofuel and bioenergy production: opportunities and limitations.
abstract: There is currently a renewed interest in developing microalgae as a source of renewable energy and fuel. Microalgae hold great potential as a source of biomass for the production of energy and fungible liquid transportation fuels. However, the technologies required for large-scale cultivation, processing, and conversion of microalgal biomass to energy products are underdeveloped. Microalgae offer several advantages over traditional 'first-generation' biofuels crops like corn: these include superior biomass productivity, the ability to grow on poor-quality land unsuitable for agriculture, and the potential for sustainable growth by extracting macro- and micronutrients from wastewater and industrial flue-stack emissions. Integrating microalgal cultivation with municipal wastewater treatment and industrial CO(2) emissions from coal-fired power plants is a potential strategy to produce large quantities of biomass, and represents an opportunity to develop, test, and optimize the necessary technologies to make microalgal biofuels more cost-effective and efficient. However, many constraints on the eventual deployment of this technology must be taken into consideration and mitigating strategies developed before large scale microalgal cultivation can become a reality. As a strategy for CO(2) biomitigation from industrial point source emitters, microalgal cultivation can be limited by the availability of land, light, and other nutrients like N and P. Effective removal of N and P from municipal wastewater is limited by the processing capacity of available microalgal cultivation systems. Strategies to mitigate against the constraints are discussed.
authors: Institute for Marine Biosciences, National Research Council of Canada, Halifax, NS, Canada. Patrick.McGinn@nrc.gc.ca
authors: Patrick J
authors: PJ
authors: McGinn
authors: Kathryn E
authors: KE
authors: Dickinson
authors: Shabana
authors: S
authors: Bhatti
authors: Jean-Claude
authors: JC
authors: Frigon
authors: Serge R
authors: SR
authors: Guiot
authors: Stephen J B
authors: SJ
authors: O'Leary
mesh_terms: D061249:Batch Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008055:Lipids; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen