Mathematics for streamlined biofuel production from unicellular algae
Mathematics for streamlined biofuel production from unicellular algae
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DOI：
10.4155/bfs.13.66
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发表时间：
2014-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
M. Bees;O. A. Croze
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Bees;O. A. Croze
本世纪最大的挑战之一是利用自然资源来满足世界对能源、食品、水和化学品的需求，同时又不进一步破坏我们所生活的潜在不稳定的环境平衡。最近人们对绿藻在生物能源、碳捕获和制药等生物技术应用中的兴趣重新燃起，这意味着我们了解活细胞悬浮液的动力学至关重要。人们普遍认为数学可以帮助优化藻类生物燃料的生产。然而，不太明显的是，数学可以揭示与许多单细胞藻类游泳这一事实相关的机制，并根据环境提示向首选方向游泳。细胞的积累会因其浮力而引起宏观流体动力学不稳定性，称为生物对流。藻类光生物反应器的设计具有直接的影响，例如细胞收获方法、避免生物污垢和了解管道流中的细胞分散。
One of the greatest challenges of this century is to employ nature’s resources to address the world’s energy, food, water and chemical requirements without further unsettling the potentially precarious environmental balance in which we live. The recent resurgence of interest in green algae for biotechnological applications, such as bioenergy, carbon capture and pharmaceuticals, means it is vital that we understand the dynamics of suspensions of living cells. It is widely appreciated that mathematics can aid the optimization of the production of biofuels from algae. However, less obviously, mathematics can reveal mechanisms associated with the fact that many species of unicellular algae swim, and do so in preferred directions in response to environmental cues. Accumulations of cells can induce macroscale hydrodynamic instabilities due to their buoyancy, called bioconvection. There are immediate consequences for algal photobioreactor design, such as methods for cell harvesting, avoiding biofouling and understanding cellular dispersion in pipe flow.