An overview on the application of genus Chlorella in biotechnological processes

Abstract

Chlorella is a genus of green algae (single-cell) that shows spherical shape. The cultivation of microalgae, such as Chlorella, is promising due to technical easiness of this type of bioprocesses. The production of microalgae at industrial scale started in the early 1960s. The microalgae cultivation is aligned to the green chemistry concept. Thus, there is a strong trend that this type of bioprocess will be applied all over the world. The aim of this study was review some characteristics of genus Chlorella, and mainly the potential industrial applications of genus Chlorella and their biocompounds. Microalgae are able of two types of trophy: autotrophy and heterotrophy. The photoautotrophy organisms are used when the CO2 fixation is the mainstream appeal, whereas heterotrophy and mixtrophy organisms can be mainly use for the production of microalgae biomass. Some of the main applications of genus Chlorella are: productions of biofuels (biodiesel, biomethane and biohydrogen), cosmetics (skin care), supplementary foods (polyunsaturated fatty acids), pigments (carotenoids and chlorophyll) and wastewater treatments (reduction of chemical oxygen demand and bioremediation).