Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.7
Journals
Applied Sciences
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Microalgae Biorefinery Processes
share announcement

Recent Advances in Microalgae Biorefinery Processes

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2021) | Viewed by 6938

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Luis Fernando Bautista

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Environmental Technology, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, 28933 Madrid, Spain
Interests: microalgaae biorefinery; biofuels; bioprocess engineering; enzyme technology; biodegradation
Prof. Dr. Gemma Vicente

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Energy and Mechanical Technology, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, 28933 Madrid, Spain
Interests: microalgae; microalgae technologies; biofuels; bioprocess engineering; biotechnology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microalgae are a very promising biomass source whose applications go beyond the traditional direct use of a few species approved for food. On the contrary, their complex biochemical composition has recently allowed the development of numerous processes and the search for multiple applications for very diverse fields such as the production of biofuels, the development of new materials, the extraction of active principles for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, or food industry, as well as the transformation of their components into chemicals of industrial interest.

Therefore, it is necessary to consider the integral use of microalgae within a biorefinery scheme, in which the processes of cultivation and harvesting of biomass are integrated with physical, chemical, and biological extraction and transformation processes, so that the By-products of one process serve as raw material for others, allowing to reduce or, ideally, eliminate waste generation, reaching a state of sustainable and economically profitable biorefinery.

This special issue aims to show the main recent advances in the development of processes specially designed to be integrated into the scheme of a microalgae biorefinery.

Prof. Dr. Luis Fernando Bautista
Prof. Dr. Gemma Vicente
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Microalgae production and harvesting
  • Extraction of high-added value products
  • Valorisation of microalgal biomass
  • Biofuels from microalgae
  • Novel transformation processes

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

25 pages, 5072 KiB  
Article
Biorefinery Processing of Waste to Supply Cost-Effective and Sustainable Inputs for Two-Stage Microalgal Cultivation
by Pierre C. Wensel, Mahesh Bule, Allan Gao, Manuel Raul Pelaez-Samaniego, Liang Yu, William Hiscox, Gregory L. Helms, William C. Davis, Helmut Kirchhoff, Manuel Garcia-Perez and Shulin Chen
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1485; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12031485 - 29 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2215
Abstract
Overcoming obstacles to commercialization of algal-based processes for biofuels and co-products requires not just piecemeal incremental improvements, but rather a comprehensive and fundamental re-consideration starting with the selected algae and its associated cultivation, harvesting, biomass conversion, and refinement. A novel two-stage process designed [...] Read more.
Overcoming obstacles to commercialization of algal-based processes for biofuels and co-products requires not just piecemeal incremental improvements, but rather a comprehensive and fundamental re-consideration starting with the selected algae and its associated cultivation, harvesting, biomass conversion, and refinement. A novel two-stage process designed to address challenges of mass outdoor microalgal cultivation for biofuels and co-products was previously demonstrated using an oleaginous, haloalkaline-tolerant, and multi-trophic green Chlorella vulgaris. ALP2 from a soda lake. This involved cultivating the microalgae in a fermenter heterotrophically or photobioreactor mixotrophically (first-stage) to rapidly obtain high cell densities and inoculate an open-pond phototrophic culture (second-stage) featuring high levels of NaHCO3, pH, and salinity. An improved two-stage cultivation that instead sustainably used as more cheap and sustainable inputs the organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous from fractionation of waste was here demonstrated in a small-scale biorefinery process. The first cultivation stage consisted of two simultaneous batch flask cultures featuring (1) mixotrophic cell productivity of 7.25 × 107 cells mL−1 day−1 on BG-110 medium supplemented with 1.587 g L−1 urea and an enzymatic hydrolysate of pre-treated (torrefaction + grinding + ozonolysis + soaking ammonia) wheat-straw that corresponded to 10 g L−1 glucose, and (2) mixotrophic cell productivity of 2.25 × 107 cells mL−1 day−1 on BG-110 medium supplemented with 1.587 g L−1 urea and a purified and de-toxified condensate of pre-treated (torrefaction + grinding) wheat straw that corresponded to 0.350 g L−1 of potassium acetate. The second cultivation stage featured 1H NMR-determined phototrophic lipid productivity of 0.045 g triacylglycerides (TAG) L−1 day−1 on BG-110 medium supplemented with 16.8 g L−1 NaHCO3 and fed batch-added 22% (v/v) anaerobically digested food waste effluent at HCl-mediated pH 9. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Microalgae Biorefinery Processes)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3387 KiB  
Article
Biocrude from Nannochloropsis gaditana by Hydrothermal Liquefaction: An Experimental Design Approach
by Alejandra Sánchez-Bayo, Irene Megía Hervás, Rosalía Rodríguez, Victoria Morales, Luis Fernando Bautista and Gemma Vicente
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4337; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11104337 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1967
Abstract
The aim of the present work was focused on optimising the yield and quality of the biocrude obtained by hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of Nannochloropsis gaditana. Temperature, reaction time and microalga concentration were the variables used to carry out an experimental factorial design [...] Read more.
The aim of the present work was focused on optimising the yield and quality of the biocrude obtained by hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of Nannochloropsis gaditana. Temperature, reaction time and microalga concentration were the variables used to carry out an experimental factorial design with a central composite design. The responses chosen were the biocrude yield and the nitrogen and oxygen content in the biocrude phase. A second-order model was obtained to predict the responses as a function of these variables. Temperature is the most determining factor with a positive influence on biocrude yield. The maximum biocrude yield (42.3 ± 0.8 wt%) was obtained at 320 °C, 10 min of reaction and 10 wt% microalgae concentration, and the nitrogen and oxygen content significantly decreased with respect to their corresponding levels in the initial microalgal biomass. The HHV value of the biocrude was 35.7 MJ/kg. The biocrude was composed of 30% of linear and branched hydrocarbons. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Microalgae Biorefinery Processes)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 2188 KiB  
Article
Fabrication and Biodegradability of Starch Cell-Plastics as Recyclable Resources
by Akihito Nakanishi, Kohei Iritani, Yuri Sakihama, Marina Watanabe, Ayano Mochiduki, Akane Tsuruta, Syunta Sakamoto and Ayami Ota
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 847; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11020847 - 18 Jan 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2173
Abstract
Recently, cell-plastics, which are composed of unicellular green algal cells and biodegradable compounds as ingredients and fillers, have been suggested as carbon-recyclable materials instead of petroleum-based plastics. In this study, cell-plastics, fabricated with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as an ingredient and a mixture of two [...] Read more.
Recently, cell-plastics, which are composed of unicellular green algal cells and biodegradable compounds as ingredients and fillers, have been suggested as carbon-recyclable materials instead of petroleum-based plastics. In this study, cell-plastics, fabricated with Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as an ingredient and a mixture of two types of starches (raw and oxidized starches) as a filler, were successfully stabilized as independent structures despite the quantity of algal cells being nine times more than that of starch. All starch cell-plastics were water repellent, possibly due to their bumpy surface structures. The starch cell-plastic, composed of 50% cells and 50% starch (1.5:1 of oxidized starch versus raw starch), showed 327 ± 52 MPa as Young’s modulus and 6.45 ± 1.20 MPa as tensile strength, indicating the possibility to be a suitable replacement for petroleum-based plastics. Additionally, all starch cell-plastics showed water-repellency and maintained those structures dipped in phosphate-buffered saline buffer as a water environment for 24 h, meaning that all starch cell-plastics had evaluable water resistance. On the other hand, by adding α-amylase, all starch cell-plastics were collapsed and lost the weight efficiently, indicated their biodegradability. This is the first paper to describe starch cell-plastics from their fabrication to biodegradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Microalgae Biorefinery Processes)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop