Feedstock to Fortune: Microalgae Bioconversion to Value-Added Products Via Circular Bioeconomy

In this era of sustainability, the increased socioeconomic awareness has replaced nonrenewable to renewable and eco-friendly resources for industrial purposes. The rapid increase in the population and climatic crises have drastic effects on the environment and humankind. To overcome the dependency on nonrenewable resources the research targets to develop alternative and sustainable methods to generate wide-spectrum value-added products. An environmentally friendly, microalgae has emerged as the most potential bio-based source due to its high photosynthetic activity, and rapid development, and can convert atmospheric CO2 into complex high-value products. Microalgae are primary producers that grow in various habitats, including marine, freshwater, and soil. They act as a storehouse of pigments and vitamins and a great supplement of dietary source. Microalgae are exploited to generate commercially valuable products such as bioethanol, biodiesel, biohydrogen, and various nonfuel products such as carbohydrates, biomaterials, and recombinant proteins. Due to its wider applications in animal feed, water purification, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and nutraceutical industries, microalgae are considered a promising alternative to conventional methods. This new development can be achieved by a biorefinery approach, which transforms the algal biomass into real-worth bioenergy products. Algal biorefinery is a single-step process, which isolates diverse bioactive compounds by recycling and reusing waste products. Coupling ecofriendly microalgae with a sustainable biorefinery approach contributes to zero-waste discharges that generate a wide range of high-value products from a single biological feedstock. This promotes huge biomass production with low cost and minimal economic resources for the development of multivariate products.