Algae in biotechnology

Alge kao heterogena skupina s oko 40 000 vrsta predstavljaju najraznolikiju skupinu živih bića na Zemlji, čime pružaju široku distribuciju iskorištavanja svojih produkata u tehnološke svrhe. Vrste koje se koriste u biotehnološkim preradama su cijanobakterije i eukariotske alge. Primijenjena biologija koja služi kao temelj u proizvodnji bioprodukata svoj doprinos u biotehnologiji ostvaruje suradnjom s tehnološkim znanostima izvan područja biologije. Velika količina proizvedene hrane, lijekova, kozmetike, goriva, različitih tvorničkih kemikalija, industrijskih potrepština i sličnih proizvoda svoje odlike duguju procesima biotehnološke proizvodnje. Alge predstavljaju obnovljiv izvor energije, a primarnom produkcijom godišnje proizvedu oko 52 milijarde tona organskog ugljika. Zbog mogućnosti uzgoja u vodi i na kopnu, često se koriste u proizvodnji goriva a široku upotrebu imaju u procesima bioremedijacije. Godišnje se 10 milijuna tona algi prerađuje u raznim biotehnološkim postrojenjima iz kojih se zatim iskorištavaju različiti derivati, ovisno o kojoj grani industrije je riječ. Danas se komercijalna algološka bioproizvodnja bazira većinom na ne-transgenetičnoj indrustriji ukoliko se priča o proizvodnji hrane za ljude i životinje, dodacima prehrani i iskorištavanju pigmenata u farmacetske i kozmetičke svrhe. Zbog akvakulture i uzgoja algi u kontroliranim vodenim sustavima, biotehnologija algi se naziva i plavom biotehnologijom.Algae as a heterogeneous group with about 40 000 species represent the most diverse group of organisms on Earth, which provide a wide exploitation of its products for the technological purposes. Species used in the biotechnological processing are cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae. Applied biology, that serves as a foundation in the manufacture of bioproducts, contribute to biotechnology in cooperation with technological sciences outside the sphere of biology. A large amount of manufactured food, medicine, cosmetics, fuel, various chemicals, industrial supplies and similar products owe their merits to biotechnological production processes. Algae are a renewable source of energy and their primary production annually produces about 52 billion tons of organic carbon. Because of the possibility of growing algae in water and on land, they are often used in fuel production and they have wide use in the process of bioremediation. Annually 10 million tons of algae are processed into a variety of biotech plants from which they can then take advantage of various derivates with respect to which the industry is concerned. Today, commercial algological bio-production is based mostly on non-transgenetic industry if we are talking about food production for humans and animals, food supplements and use of pigments in pharmaceutical and cosmetic purpose. Due to aquaculture and cultivation of algae under controlled water systems, algal biotechnology is often called blue biotechnology