The rising energy demand of the world due to rapidly expanding population and accelerated industrialization is primarily satisfied by non-renewable fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are depleting at a faster rate and their overexploitation has raised serious environmental concerns which necessitate switching to alternative sustainable energy resources. Biodiesel has caught substantial interest as a viable and adaptable fuel substitute to the currently employed nonrenewable fuels due to its renewability, biodegradability and environmentally benign nature. Biodiesel can be derived from multiple sources by different production processes among which transesterification is the most widely exploited process. This article reviews different feedstocks for biodiesel production and strategies to improve lipid content in microalgae for enhanced biodiesel production. This review further describes biodiesel production methods, types of catalyst used in transesterification process, and assesses the recent critical challenges along with technical solutions for sustainable biodiesel production.

由于人口迅速增长和工业化加速，世界能源需求不断增长，主要由不可再生化石燃料满足。化石燃料正在以更快的速度枯竭，它们的过度开发引发了严重的环境问题，因此需要转向替代可持续能源。生物柴油由于其可再生性、生物降解性和环境友好性，作为目前使用的不可再生燃料的可行且适应性强的燃料替代品引起了极大的兴趣。生物柴油可以通过不同的生产工艺从多种来源获得，其中酯交换是应用最广泛的工艺。本文回顾了不同的原料生物柴油生产和改善微藻中脂质含量以提高生物柴油生产的策略。本综述进一步描述了生物柴油的生产方法、酯交换过程中使用的催化剂类型，并评估了最近面临的关键挑战以及可持续生物柴油生产的技术解决方案。