A review on microalgae as potential lipid container with wastewater treating functions

Abstract

Microalgae are reported as potential source to produce lipids from their biomass cells. Lipid as a group of organic compound is a primary raw material used in biofuel production as well as component for foods, cosmetic products, fertilizers and animal feed. As the resources of manufacturing lipid from synthetic media are costly, the derivation of inexpensive carbon and nutritional sources from wastewater such as palm oil mill effluent (POME) is useful in massive scale. Furthermore, unique characteristic of microalgae as alternative agents to treat POME wastewater is another encouraging aspect of its application. In addition, biodiesel production from algae can produce 5,000 –15,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre/year. However, high yield production of high-lipid-content-algae biomass, determination of effective techniques in order to harvest grown algae, algal oil extraction and trans-esterification of extracted oil for converting into biodiesel are challenging issues need deep investigation. This review is focused on previous studies on POME as possible carbon and nutritional source used to treat environmental pollution caused by POME discharges and to increase the growth rate of microalgae in order to high-lipid content production.