Review Article Biodiesel Production from Microalgae

Copyright © 2013 Mahya Mohammadi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Technology for producing and using biodiesel has been known for more than 50 years. Microalgae are a diverse group of prokaryotic and eukaryotic photosynthetic microorganisms that grow rapidly due to their simple structure. Biodiesel is considered as a renewable fuel because it can be obtained from the transformation of vegetable oils, cooking greases or animal fats. Microalgae are sunlight-driven cell factories that convert carbon dioxide to potential biofuels, foods, feeds and high-value bioactives. In addition, these photosynthetic microorganisms are useful in bioremediation applications nitrogen fixing biofertilizers. This article focuses on microalgae as a potential source of biodiesel