Integration of biofuels intermediates production and nutrients recycling in the processing of a marine algae |
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| Authors: | Ali Teymouri Sandeep Kumar Elena Barbera Eleonora Sforza Alberto Bertucco Tomas Morosinotto |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA;2. Dept. of Industrial Engineering DII, University of Padova, Padova, Italy;3. Dept. of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy |
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| Abstract: | The cost‐effective production of liquid biofuels from microalgae is limited by several factors such as recovery of the lipid fractions as well as nutrients management. Flash hydrolysis, a rapid hydrothermal process, has been successfully applied to fractionate the microalgal biomass into solid biofuels intermediates while recovering a large amount of the nutrients in the aqueous phase (hydrolyzate) in a continuous flow reactor. The aim of the work is to enhance the quality of a high‐ash containing marine algae Nannochloropsis gaditana as biofuel feedstock while recycling nutrients directly for algae cultivation. Characterization of products demonstrated an increase in extractable lipids from 33.5 to 65.5 wt % (dry basis) while retaining the same fatty acid methyl ester profile, in addition to diminution of more than 70 wt % of ash compared to raw microalgae. Moreover, the hydrolyzate was directly used to grow a microalga of the same genus. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 1494–1502, 2017 |
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| Keywords: | flash hydrolysis FAME profile high‐ash microalgae direct nutrient recycling Nannochloropsis gaditana |
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