Development of an integrated chemical plant for sustainable production of chemicals from microalgae

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The growing interest in production of renewable chemicals is driven due to the realization of the adverse effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide associated with petroleum-based feedstock as well as depletion of fossil fuel reserves. Microalgae have received increased attention as a non-food feedstock due to their capability to convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars and lipids (biofuel precursors) as well as nutraceuticals. Currently, commercial application of microalgae is limited to selected high-value products. Low photosynthetic yield, which leads to a low biomass concentration in cultivation systems and in turn an energy intensive harvesting process, challenges the commercialization of bioproducts from microalgae. The vision of the proposed research program is to address the existing technical roadblocks facing the microalgae-bioproduct commercialization by implementing two innovative strategies. The first strategy relies on designing cultivation strategies (e.g., media optimization) to maximize the cellular content of products and develop robust recovery processes for derivation of multiple chemicals to maximize the use of the biomass. A selected microalgae species shown to be capable of simultaneous accumulation of multiple value-added chemicals will be investigated. The second strategy is integrating industrial organic waste digestates into microalgal biomass production systems to provide nutrients for microalgal growth and remediate the industrial wastes, simultaneously. Robust species that have shown to grow well on organic waste digestates and are capable of accumulating products of commercial value such as carotenoids and sugars are the focus of this phase of the research.