Recent advances in chemical, thermochemical, and biochemical processing of algae

Muhammad Waseem¹Faisal Mahmood^2,3Yafan Cai⁴Shuaishuai Ma^5,6Dr. Mohd. Muzamil⁷Muhammad Usman Khan^8*

• ¹Department of Biosystems Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, United States
• ²School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China, Zhenjiang, China
• ³University of Agriculture Faisalabad Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan
• ⁴School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou 450001, China, Zhengzhou, China
• ⁵Center of Biomass Engineering/College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China, Beijing, China
• ⁶Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China, Sichuan, China
• ⁷Division of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Srinagar, Srinagar, India
• ⁸Bioproducts Science & Engineering Laboratory Department of Biological Systems Engineering;Washington State University Tri-Cities Campus 2710 Crimson Way | East 229 | Richland, WA 99354-1671, Richland, United States

Considering today's challenges regarding climate change and rapid depletion of conventional fossil fuels, algae-based fuels seem to be promising and sustainable alternatives via various conversion methods. Despite growing interest in algal-based applications, the full potential of algal biomass as a versatile and sustainable feedstock remains underutilized Algae applications depict that the full potential of this biomass substrate has not been fully tapped into and can be beneficial to global economy as it is abundantly available when compared to terrestrial plants. The biomass from algae can be used to for producinge biofuels and chemicals because as they are high in proteins, carbs, and lipids. Producing fuel from algae remains commercially challenging because cultivation and harvesting demand significant energy and incur high costs. At the pilot scale, these challenges often create major bottlenecks in converting algae into biofuels or biochemicals. Adopting an integrated algae biorefinery approach can help lower both energy use and expenses. Such systems enable the simultaneous recovery of biopolymers, biochemicals, biofuels, and biofertilizers with better cost-effectiveness than traditional processes. Ultimately, making algae-based production more economically feasible strengthens its potential role in advancing a green economy. This review articulates recent advances in chemical, thermochemical, and biochemical conversion processes of algae-based biomass. Chemical transesterification, thermochemical processes such as gasification, pyrolysis, and hydrothermal treatments, and biochemical conversion methods like fermentation, anaerobic digestion, and photobiological techniques are discussed in this review.In chemical transesterification is discussed, thermochemical processes such as gasification, pyrolysis and hydrothermal treatments are detailed. For biochemical conversion methods such as fermentation, anaerobic digestion and photobiological techniques are mentioned towards the end of this review.