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

这个项目的总体目标是确定用在重金属污染废水中培育的藻类生产生物燃料是否可行。以前有报道称，藻类通过一种不可逆的机制吸收金属，尽管有文献涵盖了利用藻类进行金属的生物回收；这些研究的重点是回收吸附金属。这项研究将解决与回收已经内化在藻类中的金属有关的问题。为了实现这一目标，将首先在重金属存在的情况下培养藻类，以确保有一个现成的受污染生物量来源。在栽培阶段，将监测生长和吸收率；随着时间的推移，金属在细胞内的定位将会确定。然后对藻类进行处理，使生物质适合提取成分。脂质和金属都需要净化，以便在下游进一步加工。以前的方法在能源需求和产品产量方面都被证明是低效的。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。这将与现有的产量和潜力技术进行比较。然后脂质将通过酯交换转化为生物燃料，并将被分析金属含量。将进行进一步的测试，以确保燃料符合BS EN590标准的要求。

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.