Environmental impact of algae-based biofuel production: A review
Saleh Mobin, Firoz Alam, Harun Chowdhury
Abstract
Concerns about the rapid depletion of fossil fuels, energy security, climate change due to global warming, environmental pollution, and faster increase of fossil fuel prices have drawn attention to researchers, the scientific community, and government policymakers to develop alternative energy sources for reducing dependence on fossil fuel. In recent years, microalgae culture has received significant attention due to its potential application for bioenergy production, wastewater treatment, industrial CO2 removal, and production of biochemical compounds that can be used for human and animal health and other benefits. However, large-scale microalgae production and their processing for producing various products and by-products could have environmental impacts beyond energy consumption in the microalgal production process. This article has reviewed the environmental effects of microalgae-based biofuel production on water resources and quality, eutrophication, biodiversity, waterborne toxicant, algal toxicity, wastewater remediation or treatment, waste generation, and greenhouse gas land-use changes, and genetically engineered microalgae.