Abstract
BackgroundGlobally, the development of a cost-effective long-term renewable energy infrastructure is one of the most challenging problems faced by society today. Microalgae are rich in potential biofuel substrates such as lipids, including triacylglycerols (TAGs). Some of these algae also biosynthesize small molecule hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons can often be used as liquid fuels, often with more versatility and by a more direct approach than some TAGs. However, the appropriate TAGs, accumulated from microalgae biomass, can be used as substrates for different kinds of renewable liquid fuels such as biodiesel and jet fuel.ResultsThis article describes the isolation and identification of a lipid-rich, hydrocarbon-producing alga, Stichococcus bacillaris strain siva2011, together with its bioprocessing, hydrocarbon and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles. The S. bacillaris strain siva2011 was scaled-up in an 8 L bioreactor with 0.2% CO2. The C16:0, C16:3, C18:1, C18:2 and C18:3 were 112.2, 9.4, 51.3, 74.1 and 69.2 mg/g dry weight (DW), respectively. This new strain produced a significant amount of biomass of 3.79 g/L DW on day 6 in the 8 L bioreactor and also produced three hydrocarbons.ConclusionsA new oil-rich microalga S. bacillaris strain siva2011 was discovered and its biomass has been scaled-up in a newly designed balloon-type bioreactor. The TAGs and hydrocarbons produced by this organism could be used as substrates for jet fuel or biodiesel.
Highlights
The development of a cost-effective long-term renewable energy infrastructure is one of the most challenging problems faced by society today
The results show that this strain contains a high degree of unsaturated fatty acids
Algae can capture greenhouse gas emissions while producing oxygen, the need for high biomass and oil accumulation are challenging for algal-based bioenergy production
Summary
The development of a cost-effective long-term renewable energy infrastructure is one of the most challenging problems faced by society today. It is clear that in spite of improvements in the recovery of traditional fossil fuels, alternative renewable energy resources will at some point be needed. Such renewable fuels offer the prospect of minimizing increases in atmospheric CO2 by recycling carbon from the atmosphere back into a viable liquid fuel (or perhaps eventually sequestering it entirely). A wide variety of existing biofuel technologies have been tested, but none have proven to provide a suitable source of replacement liquid fuels Current alternatives such as ethanol and biodiesel can provide carbon neutrality, fuels derived largely from normally edible plant
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