Figure 1.

A pipeline model for the production of biodiesel from microalgae. Microalgae are cultivated by providing light, nutrients (especially nitrogen and phosphate), carbon dioxide and water in an open or closed bioreactor. Once there is concentrated biomass, it is harvested and dewatered by sedimentation, flocculation, filtration, centrifugation, flotation or electrophoresis techniques. Lipid extraction is performed after cell disruption. A ‘wet route’ would eliminate the drying process while lowering the production costs. The final step for biodiesel production is algal oil transesterification.