Preface

The rapid pace of industrialization and expanding urbanization is a global vulnerability that requires immediate attention, particularly to the replacement of fossil resources. Anthropogenic activities continually force ecosystem remodeling for more sustainable projects. With the high interest in renewable resources, the field of biotechnology has become greatly important in recent years, and microalgal biotechnology has come to be seen as a promising biofactory of the future.

Indeed, microalgae biotechnology and the valorization of the primary and secondary metabolites of microalgae are driving forces for sustainable development. Several applications of these emerging microorganisms are becoming increasingly attractive in terms of research and the market. The close interaction of biology and process engineering is necessary to realize a "green" future.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of microalgae research to build and strengthen more sustainable pathways. It discusses technological barriers, future efforts, and microalgal challenges involving current issues of biological nature, culture bioprocessing, bioactive potential, applications beyond those for the environment, and biorefinery approaches. We hope that the information contained herein will trigger a process of critical reflection and provide future avenues for research in this area.

> **Dr. Leila Queiroz Zepka, Dr. Mariany Costa Deprá and Dr. Eduardo Jacob-Lopes** Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria-RS, Brazil

**1**

path to new erudition [6].

**Chapter 1**

Introductory Chapter: Microalgal

Modern Sustainable World

*Mariany Costa Deprá, Eduardo Jacob-Lopes* 

*and Leila Queiroz Zepka*

consensually, as the future salvation.

gae, such as gold coins in the global market [2].

have continued to haunt the microalgae consolidation [5].

**1. Introduction**

Biotechnology - The Gold-Green in

As the global economy unfolds and the population increases, environmental concerns associated with greenhouse gas emissions and wastewater discharges, as well as issues involving food security, become unavoidable problems [1]. Given this devastating and worrying scenario, the challenges of sustainable development aroused interest in defining a potentially promising target that was recognized,

Under this slant, the macro- and microalgae—known as the most primitive form of life on Earth—become the hype in the academic world. Over years, the discoveries surrounding these green microorganisms formed a glorious path in the biotechnological industry. So, its robust adaptability and metabolic plasticity, beyond its highly flexible capacity for genetic and environmental changes, have reiterated the microal-

Without delay, macro- and microalgae were seen as a biological pump that not just could drive, balance, and maintain global ecosystems, but could also be used in many different technological fields. From this perspective, pioneering studies were traced to the application of microalgae as the main feedstock for bioenergy production [3]. However, obstacles involving low productivity, fractionation of biomass, as well as technical questions of scalability, have repercussions on technical-economic attributes, delaying the consolidation and commercialization of biofuels [4]. Later, the clean technologies concept applied to microalgal biotechnology was extended to the microalgae application as an effective tool for environmental processes, such as wastewater bioremediation and also the capacity to mitigate polluting gases. However, more than once the limitations of the process, already advanced in various aspects,

Since then, the research objective has changed over time. To rectify this gap, it was necessary to understand basic aspects involving the biological fundamentals of microorganisms and extend the research to optimization of the production stages. Forthwith, the new research efforts return for advances in genetic engineering, mapping from to complex evaluation of the upstream and downstream stages until the ascertainment of new methods of biomass harvesting and extraction, gave the
