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

开发用于可持续生产微藻化学品的综合化工厂

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-04647
• 负责人: Kermanshahipour, Azadeh
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=613085
• 关键词: Development; integrated; chemical; plant; sustainable

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. Benefit to the Research Field The proposed research program will likely broaden the applied field of microalgal biotechnology by designing innovative bioprocesses and development of chemical recovery technologies. This research attempts to explore an important open area in the field of microalgae-bioproducts: whether derivation of multiple products from biomass and process integration approaches will be able to enhance the process economics to make microalgal bioproducts commercially completive compared to their petroleum or agricultural-based analogues. Benefit to Canada The commercial success of a renewable chemical depends on the sustainable production of feedstock and development of a robust and cost-effective product recovery process. This research will ideally result in development of new microalgae-based chemicals by innovation in bioprocess design and extraction processes. Moreover, coupling microalgal biomass production with anaerobic digestate remediation controls the adverse environmental impact of industrial wastes and eliminates the usage of chemically synthesized fertilizers required for microalgal biomass and bioproduct production.

由于认识到与石油基原料有关的人为二氧化碳的不利影响以及矿物燃料储备的枯竭，人们对生产可再生化学品的兴趣日益增加。微藻作为一种非食品原料受到越来越多的关注，因为它们能够将二氧化碳和阳光转化为糖和脂类（生物燃料前体）以及营养药品。目前，微藻的商业应用仅限于选定的高价值产品。光合作用产量低，导致栽培系统中生物量浓度低，反过来又是能源密集型的收获过程，这对微藻生物产品的商业化提出了挑战。拟议研究计划的愿景是通过实施两项创新战略来解决目前面临的微藻生物产品商业化的技术障碍。第一种策略依赖于设计培养策略（例如，培养基优化），以最大限度地提高产品的细胞含量，并开发强大的回收过程，以衍生多种化学品，以最大限度地利用生物质。将研究显示能够同时积累多种增值化学物质的选定微藻物种。