Genetic Improvement and Challenges for Cultivation of Microalgae for Biodiesel: A Review

Microalgae are a viable alternative for biofuel production to replace the world dependency on fossil fuel. It has a wide range of application for the sustainable production of biomaterials. Microalgae can convert solar energy into important natural components by utilizing marginal nutrients, wastewater and exhaust CO2 without sharing expensive crop field. Microalgae also have the potentiality to generate several promising components such as Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs), organic pigments and pharmaceutically important hydrocarbons. Cultivation and production of microalgae biomass have multifaceted challenges due to the requirement of large volume of water for the algae growth, high processing cost and contamination by pathogens. Genetic improvement and modifications are essential to construct superior microalgae for manufacturing industries using various methods such as selection of novel strain, stress tolerance, resistance to pathogens, product development and metabolic pathways and cellular contents. In addition, technologies related to cultivation, harvesting, extraction and processing are essential to develop for the growth of novel microalgae strains.