Recent Patents on Biofuels from Microalgae

Abstract

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to prevent their devastative impacts of human health and the environment, bioenergy carriers have been at center of attention to supply global energy demand. Microalgae as solar energy-driven factories could efficiently convert carbon dioxide to a variety of hydrocarbons that can be used as biofuels. With the aim of realizing the current status of algal biofuels, respective patents were surveyed in this chapter using various databases, i.e., World Intellectual Property Organization, United States Patent and Trademark Office, and European Patent Office database. Information derived from the aforementioned databases was categorized into three: upstream, mainstream, and downstream strategies. The upstream strategies included patents on selection of algal strain and genetic engineering approaches while the mainstream strategies reviewed and discussed innovations pertaining to improving algal cultivation systems, production media and nutrients supply, and CO2 supply. Finally, in the downstream strategies section, the inventions aimed at enhancing harvesting and dewatering of microalgae cells and lipid extraction were presented.