Microfungi in Biofuel and Bioenergy Research

During the last two decades, there has been increasing interest in biodiesel as an alternative biofuel. Oleaginous fungi can represent a sustainable alternative to plant oil for the production of biodiesel and they can accumulate intracellular lipids up to 70 % under stress condition. Oleaginous fungi have given a new turn to fuel generation, as their lipids are rich in Tri-acyl glyceraldehydes (TAG) and specific polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). With the increase in population, fuel production will be highly expensive and therefore a promising alternative is to look at microbial oil technology. This chapter focuses on the important fungi and enzymes involved in biofuel production and recent technologies for lipid extraction, which provide a platform for a viable and successful development in an industrial production process.