title: An informatics-based analysis of developments to date and prospects for the application of microalgae in the biological sequestration of industrial flue gas.
abstract: The excessive emission of flue gas contributes to air pollution, abnormal climate change, global warming, and sea level rises associated with glacial melting. With the ability to utilize NOx as a nitrogen source and to convert solar energy into chemical energy via CO2 fixation, microalgae can potentially reduce air pollution and relax global warming, while also enhancing biomass and biofuel production as well as the production of high-value-added products. This informatics-based review analyzes the trends in the related literature and in patent activity to draw conclusions and to offer a prospective view on the developments of microalgae for industrial flue gas biosequestration. It is revealed that in recent years, microalgal research for industrial flue gas biosequestration has started to attract increasing attention and has now developed into a hot research topic, although it is still at a relatively early stage, and needs more financial and policy support in order to better understand microalgae and to develop an economically viable process. In comparison with onsite microalgal CO2 capture, microalgae-based biological DeNOx appears to be a more realistic and attractive alternative that could be applied to NOx treatment.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Junfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Chenliu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Computer School, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Wensheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China. qwang@ihb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005740:Gases / Q000378:metabolism*; D007220:Industrial Waste; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010330:Patents as Topic; D011643:Publishing
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005740:Gases; D007220:Industrial Waste
keywords: Biological sequestration; CO2; Industrial flue gas; Informatics; Microalgae; NOx