Influence of different abiotic factors on lipid production by microalgae – a review

Research on lipid production in microalgae, especially to target biofuels, has been widely published in recent decades. This literature is mostly focused on the optimization of culture conditions, metabolic engineering, biorefinery and downstream processes. At the lab scale, lipid production is very promising concerning biofuels production based on microalgae due to their high lipid content. However, the accumulation of knowledge associated with the development of processes and technologies for the production of biomass and associated lipids has so far not achieved the hoped-for commercial success due to still too expensive operating costs compared to fossil fuels. This review aims to present the influence of various abiotic factors on the accumulation of lipids and lipid profile in microalgae, such as the depletion of the culture medium, temperature and light, but also most innovative like the induction by hormones. Other optimization procedures and the use of wastewater to improve the cost-viability are discussed in perspective.