Renewable Energy Innovations

14Microalgae as Source of Bioenergy

Dimitra Karageorgou and Petros Katapodis*

Laboratory of Biotechnology, Department of Biological Applications and Technologies, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

Abstract

Global climate changes, gradual increase of population, greenhouse gases, and gradual depletion of fossil fuels have led to the search for other, new, alternative, and renewable sources of energy. Bioenergy constitutes a promising alternative, which includes biohydrogen, biodiesel, biogas and bioethanol. These energetic forms can be produced by compounds derived from microorganisms such as microalgae. Microalgae have a plethora of advantages, as they can be grown under many different environments, producing many high-value compounds. Moreover, there are techniques towards the enhancement of the desirable compound production. The determination of crucial microalgae growth parameters and for the production of a specific compound constitute a solution. Moreover, genetic engineering techniques could also be used. We should mention that microalgae could fix about 50% of the global carbon in the atmosphere in parallel with production of some product of energy. In this chapter, all the above parameters are analyzed. Emphasis is given to the fact that microalgae are capable to reduce environmental pollution in two parallel ways simultaneously. So, the biorefinery concept can be fully exploited towards these aims, as more than one type of bioenergy can be produced at the same ...