Algal Green Energy – R&D and technological perspectives for biodiesel production

Energy is the utmost requirement for driving the organization and maintenance of entire ecosystem. Our continued dependency on fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas as the prime source of energy has led to serious concerns about the future energy supply and security. Furthermore, over-consumption of carbon-based fossil energy sources raises serious environmental issues of global warming and climate change. To overcome the global energy demand and to enable economic as well as ecological development in a sustainable manner, technological progress for the utilization of renewable natural energy are essential to protect the environment and save energy in today's increasingly competitive world. To this end, algal biofuels are being claimed as an apt alternative energy source and in recent past, several taxonomic groups of algae have been studied and reported as an alternative to fossil fuels. It is envisaged that algal biomass could be readily processed into the raw material to make cost-effective biofuels and is being explored as an emergent and renewable green energy crops for the production of biofuels, especially biodiesel. Development of astonishing technological innovations in the field of algal genetic engineering has triggered remarkable output across the global energy sector for better biofuels. Several new techniques are being adopted for large-scale farming of microalgae intended for biofuel production. However, there are certain constraints for commercial-scale energy production from algae. The present review discusses the technological development and current information on the cultivation and process of biodiesel production form algae. Also, discussed are the technological development and genomic insights into the algal biomass and triacylglycerol accumulation for enhanced biodiesel production.