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A Short Review on Current Status and Obstacles in the Sustainable Production of Biohydrogen from Microalgal Species

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Abstract

Biohydrogen is an economical fuel which has enormous promise as an alternative energy source. The synthesis of biohydrogen can be done more affordably and sustainably using microalgae. For the generation of biohydrogen and the treatment of wastewater, microalgae derived from effluent have been showing very impressive outcomes. In comparison to traditional fuel sources, microalgae have benefits. Microalgae are capable of fixing ambient Carbon dioxide and converting it to carbohydrates, which are subsequently processed biochemically to provide fuel. When compared to terrestrial crops, they require less water and minerals for production. But besides these benefits, there are certain technological restrictions on the scale-up implementations of microalgae bioenergy. In this work, we explored the production of biohydrogen from several types of microalgae. The process of producing biohydrogen is affected by a number of variables, including pH, substrate concentration, the kinds of microalgal species, and others. The most recent studies and difficulties related to each stage of the biohydrogen manufacturing process are outlined. The synthesis of microalgal biohydrogen is improved using promising approaches that are discussed. Also, the specific future direction are covered. The possibility for microalgae-based production of biohydrogen to serve as an environmentally friendly and carbon-free biofuel solution that might handle the impending fuel scarcity was demonstrated. However, additional study is required on both the upstream and downstream processes of the synthesis of biohydrogen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, 602105, India

    B. Senthil Rathi

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Kalavakkam, Tamil Nadu, 603110, India

    P. Senthil Kumar

  3. Centre of Excellence in Water Research (CEWAR), Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Kalavakkam, Tamil Nadu, 603110, India

    P. Senthil Kumar

  4. Department of Biotechnology Engineering and Food Technology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, 140413, India

    P. Senthil Kumar

  5. Department of Biotechnology, Saveetha School of Engineering, SIMATS, Chennai, 602105, India

    Gayathri Rangasamy

  6. School of Engineering, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon

    Gayathri Rangasamy

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Correspondence to P. Senthil Kumar.

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Rathi, B.S., Kumar, P.S. & Rangasamy, G. A Short Review on Current Status and Obstacles in the Sustainable Production of Biohydrogen from Microalgal Species. Mol Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-023-00840-w

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