O Cultivo de microalgas e suas aplicações: Uma revisão de literatura

Abstract

Microalgae are unicellular microorganisms that use solar energy to obtain organic compounds, making it possible to cultivate them without many complications. Besides that, these beings have wide applicability and versatility, and it is increasingly common to dispose of bioproducts with high added value produced from the cultivation of microalgae to serve different purposes such as, in the treatment of effluents acting as a bioremediator, synthesis of drugs, nutrients, production of biofuels, and etc. This literature review aimed to provide an overview of microalgae cultivation and its applications, covering topics such as cultivation methods, the aspects that influence the growth of microalgae, the phases of microalgae growth during the cultivation process, the main applications of microalgae cultivation, as well as the main species used commercially and of compounds of industrial interest. For the selection of relevant content to the elaboration of this work, search terms were used in keywords from publications in general, such as “microalgae application”, “microalgae”, “aplicação de microalgas”, “microalgas”, “aplicación de microalgas”, “procucción de microalgas” in articles and reviews found in databases like the Portal de Periódicos Capes, Scielo, ReserachGate and Academic Google. Taking into account the publication period of the works of 20 years (2000 to 2020). The results reveal high conversion efficiency in the photosynthesis process, the fast growth of cells, the possibility of manipulating the microalgaecultivation, and the versatility to carry out the cultivation in both large and very small areas. Thus, microalgae are potential raw materials for the production of many componentes of interest in diferente industrial sectors.