Microalgae Horizons: Fundamentals, Innovations, and Industrial Applications

This book provides comprehensive recommendations and insights into the fundamentals, innovations, and industrial applications of microalgae-based processes. Covering both upstream and downstream processes, it addresses challenges and solutions in scaling up microalgae technologies from laboratory to industrial uses.

Key topics include cultivation techniques, bioreactor designs, harvesting and drying methods, and applications in food, biofuels, and environmental management. Special emphasis is placed on market trends, socio-political factors, regulatory frameworks, innovation, and sustainability, ensuring a holistic understanding of this rapidly evolving field.

In addition, the final chapters are dedicated to real-world cases, highlighting pilot projects and large-scale installations that tackle practical challenges in engineering and commercialization. As an interdisciplinary science, microalgae technology has significant relevance in academia, industry, and government, driving innovation and contributing to a growing billion-dollar global market for high-value products.

This book serves as an essential resource for students, researchers, scientists, engineers, and professionals seeking to deepen their knowledge and stay updated on the latest developments in microalgae research and applications.

Ihana A. Severo is a researcher at Florida State University, FSU (Tallahassee, FL, USA), working at the Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS). She also serves as a collaborating researcher at the Sustainable Energy Research and Development Center (NPDEAS) at the Federal University of Paraná, UFPR (Curitiba, PR, Brazil). Her scientific and technological production includes microalgae-based processes and products, photobioreactors, process integration, biorefineries, sustainability, and renewable energy. She has authored and contributed to numerous original research articles, books, book chapters, and conference communications in these fields. She has also been actively involved in the development of patents and innovative technologies.

Juan C. Ordonez is a full professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Florida A&M University, Florida State University; the director of the Energy and Sustainability Center (ESC); and the principal investigator in the Thermal Modeling and Management Group at the Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS). His research interests include renewable energy systems, thermodynamic optimization, heat transfer, constructal theory, thermal management and modeling of energy systems, fuel cells, and design and optimization of microalgae photobioreactors.

André B. Mariano is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil, where he develops research, and extension projects and teaches courses in the areas of Renewable Energy, Biofuels, Bioenergy, Ecology and Environment, and Project Management. He is the Co-founder of the Sustainable Energy Research and Development Center (NPDEAS). His research interest includes bioprocess engineering with an emphasis on microalgal biotechnology and environmental biotechnology.

José V. C. Vargas is a Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil, where he is the leader of the Energy and Thermal Sciences Group. He is also a Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (USA). He carries out theoretical, numerical, and experimental scientific research in alternative energy sources, petroleum refining processes, power and cogeneration systems, heat and mass transfer, microalgae biotechnology, photobioreactors design, and biomedical engineering. Currently, his main works involve microalgae-based processes and products, engineering-scale photobioreactor projects, the development of new fuel cells, and thermal management of large systems. He is the founder of the Sustainable Energy Research and Development Center (NPDEAS, UFPR)