Pretreatment of microalgal biomass for efficient biohydrogen production – Recent insights and future perspectives
Journal
Bioresource Technology
Journal Volume
302
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Abstract
Biohydrogen is a plausible alternative fuel solution for the contemporary issues regarding global warming and the steadily increasing greenhouse gas emissions, because of its high energy content and carbon-free combustion properties. Hydrogen does not exist in its natural state and the current hydrogen production technologies (steam methane reforming, water splitting) are energy-intensive, accompanied by a huge carbon footprint. Dark fermentative hydrogen production by anaerobic hydrogen-producing bacteria is a green, sustainable and emission-free pathway for hydrogen production. Microalgal biomass is considered as the third generation biofuel feedstock and is receiving academic and industrial research attention for its carbon sequestration abilities. This review discusses in detail about the pretreatment methods that could be adapted for microalgal biomass for effective biohydrogen production. Microalgal cell wall structure and the associated polymeric carbohydrates that offer certain recalcitrance are critically analyzed and future research perspectives are presented. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Subjects
Biohydrogen; Chlorella sp.; Dark fermentation; Microalgae; Pretreatment
Other Subjects
Biomass; Carbon footprint; Gas emissions; Global warming; Greenhouse gases; Industrial research; Steam reforming; Bio-hydrogen; Chlorella sp; Dark fermentation; Micro-algae; Pre-Treatment; Hydrogen production; anaerobic digestion; bacterium; biofuel; biomass; carbohydrate; carbon footprint; energy efficiency; future prospect; global warming; greenhouse gas; hydrogen; microalga; research work; Chlorella sp.; biofuel; hydrogen; biomass; fermentation; microalga; Biofuels; Biomass; Fermentation; Hydrogen; Microalgae
Type
review