Cited by 93Algal biology and biofuel productionBiodiesel Production and ApplicationsThermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes

Biofuels from Microalgae Biomass: A Review of Conversion Processes and Procedures

Open access
Ebhodaghe, Samuel Ogbeide, Imanah, Ojeaga Evans, Ndibe, Henry·2022·Arabian Journal of Chemistry

Abstract

Achieving the EU 2030 vision of a 15% minimum amount of biofuels utilized in the road transportation require more research on biofuel production from biomass feedstock. To this end, this review study examines the use of green, deep eutectic solvents and direct transesterification approaches for biomass conversion to biofuels. Next, biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of microalgae biomass is presented. Lastly, the effect of operating conditions, as well as advantages and limitations of several biomass conversion techniques are outlined. Of note, this study presents promising microalgae conversion processes which could be progressed are the use of bio-based solvents and supercritical fluids for biodiesel production, hydrothermal liquefaction for biogas production, microwave-induced pyrolysis for syngas production, and ultrasound/microwave enhanced extraction for bio-oil production. These are based on the possibility of high yield and process economics. We have also enumerated knowledge gaps needed to propel future studies.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.arabjc.2021.103591

Cites

178 of 178 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The main energy carriers obtained from microalgae include biodiesel produced from the lipids accumulated in their cells, hydrogen produced by photobiological processes, biomethane produced by fermentation processes, and biomass that can be used by pyrolysis, gasification, or direct combustion technologies.

    “The main energy carriers obtained from microalgae include biodiesel produced from the lipids accumulated in their cells, hydrogen produced by photobiological processes, biomethane produced by fermentation processes, and biomass that can be used by pyrolysis, gasification, or direct combustion technologies [29-31].”

    From Multi-Sensing Monitoring of the Microalgae Biomass Cultivation Systems for Biofuels and Added Value Products Synthesis—Challenges and Opportunities (2025) · cites this paper as [30]

    The Introduction identifies biodiesel, bio-methane and bio-hydrogen as microalgae products, and §2.2 describes bio-methane production through co-fermentation and anaerobic digestion. Sections 2.3–2.4 discuss gasification and pyrolysis of microalgae biomass. Our copy does not substantiate the claimed photobiological route to hydrogen or direct combustion as a use of the biomass (searched: “photobiological” and “direct combustion”). (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 179 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 15

  1. Akhihiero E.T., Omorewa Y.G., Ebhodaghe S.O., . Effect of blending ratio on theproperties of sunflower biodiesel. J. Mater. Environ. Sci.. 2019;10(10):987-994.
  2. Peng L., Fu D., Chu H., Wang Z., Qi H., . Biofuel production from microalgae: a review. Environmental. Chem. Lett. 2020:1-13.
  3. Im H., Lee H.S., Park M.S., Yang J.-W., Lee J.W., . Concurrent extraction and reaction for the production of biodiesel from wet microalgae. Biores. Technol.. 2014;152:534-537.
  4. Mahmood W.M.A.W., Theodoropoulos C., Gonzalez-Miquel M., . Enhanced microalgae lipid extraction using bio-based solvents for sustainable biofuel production. Green Chem.. 2017;19:5723-5733.
  5. Seo J.Y., Praveenkumar R., Kim B., Seo J.-C., Park J.-Y., Na J.-G., Jeon S.G., Park S.B., Lee K., Oh Y.-K., . Downstream integration of microalgae harvesting and cell disruption by means of cationic surfactants-decorated Fe304 nanoparticles. Green Chem.. 2016;18:3981-3989.
  6. Hu Z., Ma X., Jiang E., . The effect of microwave pretreatment on chemical-looping gasification of microalgae for syngas production. Energy Conv. Manage.. 2017;143:513-521.
  7. Azadi P., Brownbridge G.P.E., Mosbach S., Inderwildi O.R., Kraft M., . Production of biorenewable hydrogen and syngas via algae gasification: A sensitivity analysis. 6th international Conf. Appl. Energy.. 2014;61:2767-2770.
  8. Kruse O., Hankamer B., . Microalgae hydrogen production. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol.. 2010;21:238-243.
  9. Akhihiero E.T., Omorewa Y.G., Ebhodaghe S.O., . Effect of blending ratio on the properties of sunflower biodiesel. J. Mater. Environ. Sci.. 2019;10(10):987-994.
  10. Samorì C., López Barreiro D., Vet R., Pezzolesi L., Brilman D.W.F., Galletti P., Tagliavini E., . Effective lipid extraction from algae cultures using switchable solvents. Green Chem.. 2013;15(2):353.
  11. Lee Ilgyu and Han Jong-In. Simultaneous treatment (cell disruption and lipid extraction) of wet microalgae using hydrodynamic cavitation for enhancing the lipid yield. Bioresources Technology 186(2015)pp. 246-251.**
  12. Shivangi Jaryal et al., Bioremediation Journal, 2026
  13. Kalpesh V. Vaghela et al., Journal of Mines, Metals and Fuels, 2025
  14. Raza Hematkhah et al., Arabian Journal of Chemistry, 2023
  15. Mohammad Soleimani khorramdashti et al., Arabian Journal of Chemistry, 2022

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ebhodaghe, S. O., Imanah, O. E., & Ndibe, H.
Affiliations
University of Benin (NG)
Corresponding author
  • Ebhodaghe, Samuel Ogbeide
  • Imanah, Ojeaga Evans
Venue
Arabian Journal of Chemistry
Published
2022-02
Volume
15
Issue
2
Pages
103591
ISSN
1878-5352 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3216236738
Cited by
93
References
179
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 1
FWCI
3.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Arabian Journal of Chemistry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biodiesel Production and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes
Keywords
microalgal biomass, biofuels, biodiesel, deep eutectic solvents, green solvents, direct transesterification, co-digestion, biogas, hydrothermal liquefaction, microwave pyrolysis, syngas, ultrasound-assisted extraction, bio-oil, supercritical fluids, bio-based solvents, biofuel production

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review