Potential of Green Microalgae Biodiesel in Malaysia: A Review

• Main Authors: Hafizan, Juahir, Azizah, Endut, Abdullah, SHY Sayid
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: QH301 Biology; QR Microbiology
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/670/1/FH03-ESERI-15-04558.jpg; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/670/2/FH03-ESERI-15-04557.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/670/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

Malaysia is known to be the world’s largest producer of palm oil that was exported worldwide for numerous applications in either food or non-food industries. Striving toward a sustainable way of life Malaysia has started a research on ‘green fuel’ that led to the production of biodiesel from palm oil as a primary feedstock. The utilization of biodiesel may reduce the dependency toward the depleting source of fossil fuel apart from being environmental-friendly solution. High oil content in palm oil compared other energy crops such as rapeseed, soybean and sunflower becomes a major advantage of palm based biodiesel. Concomitant to the implementation of National Biofuel Policy in 2006, the government have proliferate their effort towards bigger production of biodiesel for transportation and industrial uses. However, this situation has growing concern as it requires large amount of resources to fulfill the demand of biodiesel. Hence, this may contribute to unsustainable situation that may jeopardize both public and the ecosystem. This article reviews the potential of microalgae as a feedstock for biodiesel production in Malaysia. In addition, the technological aspect behind the microalgae biodiesel production is further discussed in this article in terms of cultivation, harvesting and processing method from previous studies.