Abstract
The production of biofuels is currently presented as a possible answer in the search for sustainable alternatives for the total or partial substitution of fossil fuels. One of the most successful biofuels that have been developed is bioethanol. However, bioethanol production has been limited since it relies on the use of sugar cane or cereals. These materials are important sources of food and their demand as both a biofuel and a foodstuff has led to the price increase and may lead to possible shortages. Our group has focused on searching for native microalgae as sources of carbohydrates and bioethanol, with the goal of finding a sustainable source of bioethanol. Currently, twelve different strains which reach growth rates between 0.7 - 1.8 g/L and present carbohydrate production under osmotic shock conditions have been isolated. In this work, we demonstrate the results obtained with the Chlorella sp. [1] strain and the results obtained with the Scenedesmus sp. strain. The Scenedesmus sp. strain showed an increase in the production from 22 to 650 mg/sugar/g of biomass (dry weight), after 24 hours of osmotic shock with 0.1 M NaCl. The osmolytes which were produced after osmotic shock were identified as sucrose and trehalose, both of which are fermentable. These results demonstrate that this strain, through the photosynthetic pathway and osmotic shock, is a potential source of fermentable sugars.
Highlights
Microalgae are oxygenic photosynthetic organisms that are found in diverse environments such as salt water and fresh water
Scenedesmus sp. presented a maximum growth of 1.58 g/L with a μmax of 0.0059 [14]; other authors reached values up to 1.069 (h−1), and growth of 2.63 g/L [15,16]. From this we are able to determine that the BG11 culture media and that cultivation conditions were appropriate for the growth of Scenedesmus sp
Sucrose concentration increased 92% and there was no increase in trehalose concentration. These results indicate that the principal osmoregulator produced by this strain of Scenedesmus sp. is sucrose and trehalose, while to a lesser extent than sucrose, functions as an osmoregulator
Summary
Microalgae are oxygenic photosynthetic organisms that are found in diverse environments such as salt water and fresh water They are even found in environments as extreme as desserts. The majority of these organisms are photosynthetic species, as such they are capable of producing sugars from CO2 and light [2,3,4]. Much is known about the large quantity of compounds that the algae produces as osmoregulators These compounds range from simple carbohydrates to amino acids and even complex compounds such as digenosides [7,8]. Some of these osmoregulators synthesized by algae can have commercial uses. This is the case for glucose, sucrose, and trehalose which can even be fermented to produce bioethanol [1]
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