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Cultivation of Green Microalgae in Bubble Column Photobioreactors and an Assay for Neutral Lipids
Published on: January 7, 2019
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Pre-treatment options for halophytic microalgae and associated methane production.
1Microalgae Engineering Research Group, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Bioresource Technology
|December 18, 2014
Summary
Lipid-extracted microalgae (Tetraselmis spp.) yield significant methane production via anaerobic digestion. Microbial action also facilitates cell lysis, enabling direct energy conversion from intact microalgae without pre-treatment.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Anaerobic Digestion
- Microalgae Cultivation
Background:
- Microalgae are a promising feedstock for biofuel production.
- Lipid extraction is a common pre-treatment step for microalgal biomass digestion.
- Understanding the anaerobic digestion potential of different microalgal biomass states is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate methane production from lipid-extracted, pre-treated disrupted, and non-pretreated Tetraselmis spp. microalgae.
- To evaluate the efficiency of anaerobic digestion for various microalgal biomass conditions.
- To explore the role of microbial communities in microalgal cell lysis during digestion.
Main Methods:
- Cultivation of Tetraselmis spp. microalgae.
- Lipid extraction from microalgal biomass.
- Pre-treatment and disruption of microalgal cells.
- Anaerobic digestion experiments with different microalgal substrates.
- Methane production measurement (mL per g VS).
- Microbial community analysis to observe cell lysis.
Main Results:
- Lipid-extracted Tetraselmis spp. produced 122 mL per g VS methane, confirming effective digestion of lipid-free biomass.
- Non-disrupted Tetraselmis sp. yielded 252 mL per g VS methane.
- Pre-treated disrupted Tetraselmis sp. yielded 248 mL per g VS methane.
- Microbial communities induced cell lysis of Tetraselmis spp. during anaerobic digestion.
Conclusions:
- Lipid-free Tetraselmis spp. microalgae can be effectively digested anaerobically.
- Cell lysis by the microbial community offers a direct conversion pathway for intact microalgae.
- Pre-treatment may not be necessary for methane production from Tetraselmis spp. due to microbial cell lysis.
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