The DOI matches its Crossref record; 242 of the 251 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Constraints to commercialization of algal fuels
Abstract
Production of algal crude oil has been achieved in various pilot scale facilities, but whether algal fuels can be produced in sufficient quantity to meaningfully displace petroleum fuels, has been largely overlooked. Limitations to commercialization of algal fuels need to be understood and addressed for any future commercialization. This review identifies the major constraints to commercialization of transport fuels from microalgae. Algae derived fuels are expensive compared to petroleum derived fuels, but this could change. Unfortunately, improved economics of production are not sufficient for an environmentally sustainable production, or its large scale feasibility. A low-cost point supply of concentrated carbon dioxide colocated with the other essential resources is necessary for producing algal fuels. An insufficiency of concentrated carbon dioxide is actually a major impediment to any substantial production of algal fuels. Sustainability of production requires the development of an ability to almost fully recycle the phosphorous and nitrogen nutrients that are necessary for algae culture. Development of a nitrogen biofixation ability to support production of algal fuels ought to be an important long term objective. At sufficiently large scale, a limited supply of freshwater will pose a significant limitation to production even if marine algae are used. Processes for recovering energy from the algal biomass left after the extraction of oil, are required for achieving a net positive energy balance in the algal fuel oil. The near term outlook for widespread use of algal fuels appears bleak, but fuels for niche applications such as in aviation may be likely in the medium term. Genetic and metabolic engineering of microalgae to boost production of fuel oil and ease its recovery, are essential for commercialization of algal fuels. Algae will need to be genetically modified for improved photosynthetic efficiency in the long term.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
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?
In the citing paper
“For photoautotrophic microalgae cultivation, carbon must be delivered in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the diffusion of atmospheric CO2 hinders the growth of microalgae (Chisti, 2013).”
From Strategies to Produce Cost-Effective Third-Generation Biofuel From Microalgae (2021) · cites this paper as Chisti, 2013
In the citing paper
“Despite the outstanding characteristics attributed to microalgae, their industrial-scale production still struggles with scale-up problems and economic feasibility.”
From Software sensors in the monitoring of microalgae cultivations (2024) · cites this paper as Chisti 2013
Citations
Cites
Ecological responses to recent climate change.
Walther, G.-R., Post, E., Convey, P., Menzel, A., Parmesan, C., Beebee, T. J. C., Fromentin, J.-M., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., & Bairlein, F. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/416389a · Cited by 9,975
Chisti, Y. (2007) · Biotechnology Advances · doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2007.02.001 · Cited by 9,524
The story of phosphorus: Global food security and food for thought
Cordell, D., Drangert, J.-O., & White, S. B. (2009) · Global Environmental Change · doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2008.10.009 · Cited by 5,200
Brennan, L., & Owende, P. (2010) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2009.10.009 · Cited by 4,894
Commercial Applications of Microalgae
Spolaore, P., Joannis-Cassan, C., Duran, E., & Isambert, A. (2006) · Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering · doi:10.1263/jbb.101.87 · Cited by 4,285
Microalgal triacylglycerols as feedstocks for biofuel production: perspectives and advances
Hu, Q., Sommerfeld, M., Jarvis, E., Ghirardi, M., Posewitz, M., Seibert, M., & Darzins, A. (2008) · The Plant Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2008.03492.x · Cited by 3,745
Climate change 2007 - mitigation of climate change
Metz, B., Davidson, O. R., Bösch, P., Dave, R., & Meyer, L. (2007) · Cited by 3,484
Rodolfi, L., Chini Zittelli, G., Bassi, N., Padovani, G., Biondi, N., Bonini, G., & Tredici, M. R. (2009) · Biotechnology and Bioengineering · doi:10.1002/bit.22033 · Cited by 2,879
Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels
Hill, J., Nelson, E., Tilman, D., Polasky, S., & Tiffany, D. (2006) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0604600103 · Cited by 2,871
Advances in CO2 capture technology—The U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Sequestration Program
Figueroa, J. D., Fout, T., Plasynski, S., McIlvried, H., & Srivastava, R. D. (2008) · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control · doi:10.1016/s1750-5836(07)00094-1 · Cited by 2,281
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Chisti, 2010, Shear sensitivity, vol. 7, 4360
- Tuli, 1996, Cyanobacterial photosynthesis and the problem of oxygen in nitrogen-fixation: a molecular genetic view, Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 55, 638
- Williams, 2009, Algenol Biofuels announces plan to build and operate a pilot-scale algae-based integrated biorefinery, Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 48, 6
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Juneja, A., Ceballos, R., & Murthy, G. (2013) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en6094607 · Cited by 835
Markou, G., & Nerantzis, E. (2013) · Biotechnology Advances · doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2013.07.011 · Cited by 815
Knothe, G., & Razón, L. F. (2016) · Progress in Energy and Combustion Science · doi:10.1016/j.pecs.2016.08.001 · Cited by 761
Microalgae biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuel for power generation
Milano, J., Ong, H. C., Masjuki, H. H., Chong, W. T., Lam, M. K., Loh, P. K., & Vellayan, V. (2016) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.150 · Cited by 621
Microalgal and cyanobacterial cultivation: The supply of nutrients
Μάρκου, Γ., Vandamme, D., & Muylaert, K. (2014) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2014.07.025 · Cited by 623
Metadata
- Authors
- Chisti, Y.
- Venue
- Journal of Biotechnology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-09
- Volume
- 167
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 201-214
- ISSN
- 0168-1656 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2165821458
- Cited by
- 719
- References
- 251
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 68 · 2017: 77 · 2016: 72 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 3.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Biotechnology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Keywords
- microalgae, commercialization, transportation fuels, carbon dioxide supply, nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, phosphorus recycling, freshwater scarcity, net energy balance, genetic engineering of microalgae, photosynthetic efficiency, aviation biofuels, production economics
- MeSH terms
- Biotechnology, Carbon Dioxide, Oils, Biofuels, Microalgae
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
