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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Author Spotlight: Scaling Microalgal Biotechnology for Enhanced Biomethane Production
Published on: March 22, 2024
Microfluidic techniques for enhancing biofuel and biorefinery industry based on microalgae
Pierre Bodénès1, Hsiang-Yu Wang2,3, Tsung-Hua Lee4
11Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Abstract:
This review presents a critical assessment of emerging microfluidic technologies for the application on biological productions of biofuels and other chemicals from microalgae. Comparisons of cell culture designs for the screening of microalgae strains and growth conditions are provided with three categories: mechanical traps, droplets, or microchambers. Emerging technologies for the in situ characterization of microalgae features and metabolites are also presented and evaluated. Biomass and secondary metabolite productivities obtained at microscale are compared with the values obtained at bulk scale to assess the feasibility of optimizing large-scale operations using microfluidic platforms. The recent studies in microsystems for microalgae pretreatment, fractionation and extraction of metabolites are also reviewed. Finally, comments toward future developments (high-pressure/-temperature process; solvent-resistant devices; omics analysis, including genome/epigenome, proteome, and metabolome; biofilm reactors) of microfluidic techniques for microalgae applications are provided.
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