An approach to make biofuels with microalgae secreting photosynthetic products

微藻是一种与任何食品市场都没有竞争力的生物材料，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，本研究以从法氏草履虫中分离出的小球藻样藻类作为微藻。藻类可以向外分泌它们的光合产物。因此，藻类释放的光合产物可以用来制造生物燃料。结果表明，调整pH和CO2水溶液浓度等人工操作可显著控制藻类光合产物的分泌。此外，酵母可以将分泌的碳水化合物转化为乙醇，作为生物燃料。然而，从实际应用的角度来看，优化藻类分泌光合碳水化合物的活性是很重要的。藻类分泌碳水化合物活性的上调是否通过基因技术人为诱导，也有待研究。

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.