The recovery of selected heavy metals from water by the use of Microalgae, and analysis of biofuel produced from this algae

该项目的总体目标是确定从受重金属污染的废水中培养的藻类生产生物燃料是否可行。据以前报道，藻类吸收金属内部通过不可逆的机制，虽然有文献报道，利用藻类的生物回收金属，这些重点是回收吸附的metal.This研究将解决与回收金属，已内在的藻类相关的问题。为了实现这一目标，藻类将首先在重金属的存在下培养，以确保有一个现成的污染生物质来源。在培养阶段，将监测生长和吸收率;并确定金属在细胞内的位置随时间的推移。然后将处理藻类，使其生物量适合于成分提取。脂质和金属都需要纯化，以便在下游进一步加工。先前的方法已被证明在能量需求和产物产率方面都是低效的。一种用于生物制药研究的新技术已被确定为脂质和蛋白质回收的可能替代技术。这将与现有技术的产量和潜力进行比较，然后通过酯交换将脂质转化为生物燃料，并分析金属含量。将进行进一步测试，以确保燃料符合BS EN 590标准规定的要求。

The overall aim for this project is to determine whether it is feasible to produce biofuels from algae that has been cultivated in wastewater contaminated with heavy metals. It has been previously reported that algae absorb metals internally by an irreversible mechanism, and although there is literature that covers the bio-recovery of metals using algae; these focus on recovering adsorbed metal.This study will address the problems associated with recovering metal that has been internalised within the algae. To achieve this algae will first be cultivated in the presence of heavy metals to ensure that there is a ready source of contaminated biomass. During the cultivation stage, growth and absorption rates will be monitored; and the localisation of the metals within the cells will be determined over time.Algae will then be processed to make the biomass suitable for component extraction. Both lipids and the metals will require purification for further processing downstream. Previous methods have proven to be inefficient in both energy requirements and product yield. A novel technique that is used in biopharmaceutical research has been identified as a possible alternative technique for lipid and protein recovery. This will be compared with established techniques for yield and potential.The lipids will then be converted to biofuels by transesterification and will be analysed for metal content. Further tests will be performed to ensure that the fuel meets the requirements set out by the BS EN590 standards.