Microalgal cultivation with biogas slurry for biofuel production.
Microalgal growth requires a substantial amount of chemical fertilizers. An alternative to the utilization of fertilizer is to apply biogas slurry produced through anaerobic digestion to cultivate microalgae for the production of biofuels. Plenty of studies have suggested that anaerobic digestate containing high nutrient contents is a potentially feasible nutrient source to culture microalgae. However, current literature indicates a lack of review available regarding microalgal cultivation with biogas slurry for the production of biofuels. To help fill this gap, this review highlights the integration of digestate nutrient management with microalgal production. It first unveils the current status of microalgal production, providing basic background to the topic. Subsequently, microalgal cultivation technologies using biogas slurry are discussed in detail. A scale-up scheme for simultaneous biogas upgrade and digestate application through microalgal cultivation is then proposed. Afterwards, several uncertainties that might affect this practice are explored. Finally, concluding remarks are put forward.
Faculty of Technology, and Vaasa Energy Institute, University of Vaasa, FI-65101 Vaasa, Finland; Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, and Faculty of Resources and Environment, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China. Electronic address: liandongzhu@gmail.com.
Liandong
L
Zhu
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China.
Cheng
C
Yan
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, and Faculty of Resources and Environment, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China.
Zhaohua
Z
Li
D056804:Biofuels; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development*; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D035501:Uncertainty
D056804:Biofuels; D012722:Sewage
Biofuels; Biogas slurry; Biogas upgrading; Bioproducts; Cultivation; Microalgae; Scale-up