Biodiesel production from cultured seaweeds

Macroalgae can be defined as a diverse and distantly related non-phylogenetic group of macroscopic aquatic eukaryotes belonging to Chlorophyta and Streptophyta (green algae), Rhodophyta (red algae), Phaeophyceae (brown algae) and Xanthophyceae (yellow-green algae). In the sustainable production of biofuels, macroalgae have several potential advantages compared to terrestrial plants Macroalgae do not need agricultural land or freshwater to grow and the productivity of some macroalgal species or communities can be high being as high as that of the most productive land plants and tropical rainforests. The chemical compounds in macroalgae can be used in several applications in food, fodder or chemistry industry prior to using the remaining tissue for biofuel production. The use of macroalgae in the biofuel industry is still under development and even recent results on this topic are widely based on laboratory or meso-scale operations. This books provides information regarding to the feasibility of using the different macroalgae and their culture and compounds for biofuel production.