From the Ancient Tribes to Modern Societies, Microalgae Evolution from a Simple Food to an Alternative Fuel Source

Photosynthesis, the mechanism responsible for O2 evolution on Earth, is also a critical instrument for fuel of the future. Observations on algal biotechnology, and tracing back algae utilization to ancient tribes, give key clues to the development of new-generation biofuels. Microalgae as a promising photosynthetic "farm" have numerous aspects from foods to medicines to biofuels. The starting point of algal biofuels also comes from the awareness of the requirement for a better source. Conventional fossil fuels are argued to be depleting and alternative biofuels are discussed to be competitive and promising in real case leaving possible scenarios. With this knowledge, tracing the historical development of microalgal biofuels in the scope of photosynthesis, production technologies, possible biofuel types, and genetic engineering tools as a relatively new concept have been discussed and highlighted in this chapter. Also the global projects and their contribution to the literature are pointed out to observe logical results for the development of microalgal biofuels. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Creative ScotlandThe aim of the BioMARA project was to find alternative marine resources for biofuel production for commercialization. The project was launched in April 2009 by the Scottish Association for Marine Science, supported by partner organizations from Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland ( million € for 7 years. So far, the research team has screened 2700 microalgae strains from culture collections in order to define promising strains for lipid production. The team has published a few papers, mostly dealing with climate change and global warming risks, alternative species for lipid production and strain screening, strain improvement, reviews about biogas production, techno-economic development, and research on biogas production from seaweeds ( http://www.biomara.org ). Project objectives were to define high oil-producing microalgae strains, define genes responsible for oil synthesis, marine seaweeds and marine biomass for anaerobic digestion, and design techno-economical and feasible PBRs for microalgae cultivation to produce bioethanol and biogas. Total budget of the project was 6 Allan, 2011; Callaway et al., 2012; Day et al., 2012; Hughes et al., 2012; Roleda et al., 2013; Dave et al., 2013; Slocombe et al., 2013a, 2013b; Vanegas and Bartlett, 2013 ). 5.5 -