An approach to make biofuels with microalgae secreting photosynthetic products

微藻是一种在任何食品市场都不具竞争力的生物材料，有望成为制造生物燃料的下一代生物质。为了开发一种制备生物燃料的新方法，本研究以草履虫中分离出的类小球藻为微藻。藻类可以向外分泌它们的光合作用产物。因此，藻类释放的光合作用产物可以用于制造生物燃料。结果表明，调节pH值和水中CO2浓度等人工操作可以显著控制藻类的光合作用产物的分泌。此外，酵母可以将分泌的碳水化合物转化为乙醇，起到生物燃料的作用。然而，从实用的角度来看，利用藻类来优化藻类分泌光合作用碳水化合物的活性是很重要的。还必须调查藻类分泌碳水化合物的活性上调是否是通过基因技术人为诱导的。

Microalgae, non-competitive biomaterials with any food market, are expected as next generation biomass to make biofuels. To develop a new method to make biofuels, Chlorella-like algae isolated from Paramecium bursaria was used as microalgae in this study. The algae can secrete their photosynthetic products outwardly. Thus, the photosynthetic products released from the algae can be used for making biofuels. Results showed that artificial operations including adjustment of pH and aqueous CO2 concentration could significantly control secretion of photosynthetic products from the algae. In addition, yeast could convert the secreted carbohydrates into ethanol functioning as biofuels. However, it is important for a practical standpoint of this system using the algae to optimize the algal activity to secrete photosynthetic carbohydrates. It has to be also investigated whether the up-regulation of the algal activity to secrete carbohydrates is artificially induced through gene technologies.