Microalgal-based Production of Biofuels and High Energy Combustion Materials

0853483Rusch该奖项是根据2009年的美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111 - 5）资助的。总结智力优点：该提案将调查导致葡萄球菌属，微拟球藻属，集胞藻属和念珠藻属的微藻和蓝藻物种的高能量脂质和生物聚合物的最佳生产的因素。该项目的总体目标是开发一种技术和经济上可行的方法，通过环境友好的工艺从微藻中获得和提取高储能产品。大规模的实验将使用液压集成的串联式浊度稳定器藻类反应器（HISTAR）进行。HISTAR在一系列反应器中集成了接种物生成、生物质生产和收获，允许高局部稀释率以减少污染物的引入，并允许低系统稀释率以提高生产率。该系统的设计已显示出具有更高的产率和减少的问题，通常观察到在封闭的生物反应器，如壁生长，热积累和不良的气体交换。该目标将通过测试以下假设来实现：1）实验室规模的微藻或蓝细菌培养结果可以在HISTAR内扩展到商业水平; 2）脂质和PHA可以在某些蓝细菌物种中共同产生; 3）C：N比将影响藻细胞的脂质和PHA含量; 4）脂质和PHA提取效率这些结果包括：（1）纳米结构金属的使用（以及因此成本）将随所使用的提取方法而变化; 5）纳米结构金属的使用可以增强提取过程;以及6）微藻生产率模型可以充分预测来自密集的连续微藻培养物的脂质和PHA产量。这些目标将在四个阶段进行测试：1）在分批系统中生产生物质、脂质和PHA; 2）在HISTAR系统中培养一种微藻和一种蓝细菌物种; 3）评估脂质和PHA的提取方法，以及量化所生产的生物质的总能量含量，和4）通过建模对每个工艺途径进行成本：效益分析。这项工作的结果将提供对成功培养生物燃料微藻的过程的更好的科学理解，并为培养具有增加的能量含量（PHA）和/或脂质（石油提取）的微藻的商业方法奠定基础。更广泛的影响：该提案主题适用于几个正式/非正式的教育活动，其中一些将通过路易斯安那州海洋赠款学院计划（海洋震荡），凯恩科学，技术，工程和数学素养中心（教师准备），工程多样性计划办公室（REHAMS和XCITE）和美国化学学会（超级科学星期六）传播。这项工作的结果将通过技术会议、期刊论文和网络文件传播。该项目的预期社会效益是增加基于生物质的高能量产品的生产，以减少基于石油的燃料和聚合物的消耗，从而减少对外国石油的依赖。

0853483RuschThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Summary Intellectual Merit: This proposal will investigate the factors that result in optimal production of high energy lipids and biopolymers in the microalgal and cyanobacteria species of the genera Botryococcus, Nannochloropsis, Synechocystis, and Nostoc. The overall goal of this project is to develop a technical and economically feasible method to obtain and extract high energy storage products from microalgae through environmentally friendly processes. The large scale experimentation will be performed using the Hydraulically Integrated Serial Turbidostat Algal Reactor (HISTAR). HISTAR incorporates inoculums generation, biomass production and harvesting in a series of reactors, allowing for a high local dilution rate to mitigate contaminant introduction and low system dilution rate to increase productivity. The design of the system has shown to have higher yields and reduced problems commonly observed in closed bioreactors such as wall growth, heat accumulation and poor gas exchange. The goal will be achieved by testing the following hypothesis: 1) bench scale microalgae or cyanobacteria culture results can be scaled to commercial levels within HISTAR; 2) lipids and PHA can be co-produced in certain cyanobacteria species; 3) C:N ratio will impact the lipid and PHA content of the algal cells; 4) lipid and PHA extraction efficiency (and thus cost) will vary with the extraction method used; 5) the use of nanostructured metals can enhance the extraction processes; and 6) a microalgal productivity model can adequately predict lipid and PHA yields from intensive, continuous microalgal cultures. These objectives will be tested in four phases: 1) production of biomass, lipid and PHA in batch systems; 2) culture of one microalgae and one cyanobacteria species in the HISTAR system; 3) evaluation of extraction methods for the lipids and PHA, as well as quantification of the total energy content of the biomass produced, and 4) cost:benefit analysis of each process pathway via modeling. The outcomes from this work will provide a better scientific understanding of the processes dictating successful microalgal culture for biofuels and foundation for a commercial approach to cultivating microalgae with increased energy content (PHA) and/or lipids (oil extraction). Broader impact: This proposal topic lends itself to several formal/informal educational activities, several of which will be disseminated through the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program (Ocean Commotion), Cain Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Literacy (Teacher Prep), Office of Diversity Programs in Engineering (REHAMS and XCITE) and American Chemical Society (Super Science Saturday). The results of this work will be disseminated through technical meetings, journal papers and through web based documents. Society benefits expected from this project is the increase of production of biomass based high energy products to reduce the consumption of oil based fuels and polymers and thus reduces the dependency on foreign oil.