Human civilization faces a huge energy crisis due to climate alterations and the reduction in fossil fuel reserves. Biofuels are sustainable platforms that can combat this burning issue currently. Biodiesel is a potential fossil fuel alternative from cooking, soybean, or plant-derived oil resources. Existing biodiesel production processes are directly competing with the food chain. Algae are impressive alternatives for biodiesel generation as algae grow without competing with the food chain, have an inherently faster growth rate, and have higher lipid content under diverse nutrient-limiting environments. Lignocellulosic waste (LCW) accumulation has been increasing through anthropogenic activities. Accumulation of LCW causes ill effects on the environment and human health. Thus, a faster paradigm shift needs to be required for establishing a single platform to perform lignocellulosic biomass degradation along with higher lipid production as a biodiesel precursor. Few studies show algal endoglucanase or cellulase activities for degrading LCW to generate monomeric constituents which can further be channelized to produce higher biomass and lipid contents as biodiesel precursors. Thus, the present study focuses on a feasibility attempt to show that mangrove algal isolates could be a potential microbial cell factory for cellulose degradation as a major constituent of LCW and higher lipid production as a potential precursor for biodiesel production in near future.
Key words: Algae; Biomass production; Lipid content; Biodiesel; Cellulosic biomass degradation.
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