Emergence of Third‐Generation Biofuel

One of the worrisome issues faced globally is increasing universal energy demand due to the overexploitation of existing natural resources, robust industrialization, and overpopulation, which threatens the balance of nature. New technologies have been developed in order to improve efficiency, renewability, and develop an environmentally sustainable approach to satisfy the energy demand. Third-generation (3G) biofuels, particularly bioethanol, have gained attention in recent years as they can be sourced out on marginal land or water bodies. Bioethanol from algae holds great promise for future biofuel production due to its rapid growth rate and mitigation of greenhouse gases emission. Algae are unicellular aquatic plants that can grow more than 100 times biomass per area than the first- and second-generation biofuels with high lipid content and simplicity of cultivation and harvest. This chapter summarizes the state-of-the-art review which aims to focus on different aspects of bioethanol production from algae to significantly increase yield, while attributing cost minimization strategies for large-scale applications.