The adverse impacts of fossil fuels on the environment, specifically climate change, have intensified the need for finding a sustainable alternative source of energy. Numerous studies have postulated that biotechnology development, focusing on biofuel production processes, could be a suitable solution for sustainable energy production. The utilization of microorganisms, such as microalgae, is one of the basic strategies to produce biodiesel, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. Co-cultivation has overtaken mono-cultivation to improve the production of microalgae due to its endurance, foreseeability, and stability. However, further development of the co-cultivation process requires elaborate efforts to make it safe, practical, and optimal. Some dominant factors affecting the co-culture system control are the diversity of the cell groups, mass transfer, scale-up, population ratio, and time. In this review article, we will discuss some critical topics related to the co-cultivation process, such as data collection, modelling, cultivation methods, and interaction varieties. An overview of the quantification techniques for biomass concentration and lipid content is also provided. Moreover, the utilization of microalgal co-cultures will be analyzed, depicting the difficulties associated with their efficient control. As knowledge of the reactions and their entailing kinetics is elemental for analyzing the microalgal systems, which are used to synthesize intermediate products and chemicals, some studies focusing on the kinetics of microalgal biomass conversion into biofuels are presented. Since the microbial fuel cells (MFCs), as a new bioelectrochemical process, are utilized in the mixed-culture systems to treat wastewater and produce biofuels and other valuable by-products, a summary of the microalgal MFCs is also provided. Finally, arguments about the challenges and advantages of the co-cultivation systems are presented.

化石燃料对环境的不利影响，特别是气候变化，加剧了寻找可持续替代能源的需求。许多研究假设，以生物燃料生产过程为重点的生物技术开发可能是可持续能源生产的合适解决方案。利用微生物，如微藻，是生产生物柴油、药物和保健品的基本策略之一。由于微藻的持久性、可预见性和稳定性，共培养已取代单一培养以提高微藻的产量。然而，共培养过程的进一步发展需要精心努力以使其安全、实用和优化。影响共培养系统控制的一些主要因素是细胞群的多样性，传质、放大、人口比例和时间。在这篇评论文章中，我们将讨论与共培养过程相关的一些关键主题，例如数据收集、建模、培养方法和交互品种。还提供了对生物质浓度和脂质含量的量化技术的概述。此外，还将分析微藻共培养物的利用，描述与其有效控制相关的困难。由于反应及其相关动力学的知识对于分析用于合成中间产物和化学品的微藻系统至关重要，因此提出了一些关注微藻生物质转化为生物燃料的动力学的研究。由于微生物燃料电池（MFCs）作为一种新的生物电化学过程，在混合培养系统中用于处理废水和生产生物燃料和其他有价值的副产品，还提供了微藻 MFC 的摘要。最后，提出了关于共培养系统的挑战和优势的论点。