Microalgae for carbon dioxide mitigation was applied to the production of acetic acid under hydrothermal conditions with H(2)O(2) oxidant. Results showed that acetic acid was obtained with a good yield of 14.9% based on a carbon base at 300 degrees C for 80 s with 100% H(2)O(2) supply. This result should be helpful to facilitate studies for developing a new green and sustainable process in order to produce acetic acid from microalgae. which are the fastest growing sunlight-driven cell factories. These results show that it is possible to develop a process for conversion of microalgae biomass into acetic acid. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.