Valorization of Waste Algal Boom
for Value-Added Products
A. Annam Renita and P. Senthil Kumar
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
2 Algal Bloom Valorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
2.1 Biogas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
2.2 Biochar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
2.3 Biooil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
2.4 Bioethanol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
2.5 Adsorbent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
2.6 Biofertilizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Abstract Undesirable algal boom causes serious disposal problems which can be
cost inductive and can cause secondary pollution problems. There is a need for
valorization of such waste algal biomass which is otherwise disposed of as solid
waste in land filling or incinerated. The algal blooms which are problematic can be
processed technically to value-added products, and this in turn will also provide a
sustainable solution to eutrophication hassles. Valorization techniques involve
industrial processing of algal waste which can be converted or recycled into useful
products or serve as a source of energy thereby increasing the value of the original
material. This technology is the most promising solution to achieve low carbon
economy. This review outlines the valorization techniques which can be adopted to
convert the waste algal biomass which can be used in industries like energy,
agriculture, and wastewater treatment plants.
A. Annam Renita (*)
Department of Chemical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology,
Chennai, India
e-mail: annamrenita.chem@sathyabama.ac.in
P. Senthil Kumar
Department of Chemical Engineering, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, India
e-mail: senthilkumarp@ssn.edu.in
Manuel Jerold, Santhiagu Arockiasamy, and Velmurugan Sivasubramanian (eds.),
Bioprocess Engineering for Bioremediation: Valorization and Management
Techniques, Hdb Env Chem (2020) 104: 129–138, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_579,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020, Published online: 17 July 2020
129