Microalgal biorefinery:Biofilm photo-reactor and extraction methods

微藻技术是将（太阳）光转化为液体燃料的一种方法，与传统作物相比有几个优势：每单位作物面积可产生高达100倍的生物量;这种生物量的脂质含量可高达70%（干基）;倍增时间可在几天左右;它们可以在侵蚀性环境中生长，包括盐水甚至碱性沃茨。尽管有这些优点，但使用当前微藻培养和加工技术生产的生物柴油并不经济。大多数费用与尚未解决的各种分离和提取步骤有关。此外，微藻加工的“生物精炼”（多产品）方法可以显著提高整个工艺的经济性。为了解决这些问题，我们提出了使用微藻生物膜技术，使微藻将生长在光反应器与纤维基板（大面积体积比）包装。通过简单地改变反应器的进料，我们计划评估各种水提取技术，从侵蚀性碱性乳液（旨在打破细胞壁并提取所有生物质）到温和无毒的

Microalgal technologies, used as a method of conversion of (sun)light to liquid fuels, hold several advantages over conventional crops: they can produce up to 100 times more biomass per unit of crop area; the lipid content of this biomass can be up to 70% (dry basis); the doubling time can be in the order of few days; and they can grow in aggressive environments, including saline or even alkaline waters. Despite all these advantages, biodiesel produced using current microalgal cultivation and processing technology is not economic. Most of the costs are associated with various separation and extraction steps that have not been addressed. Furthermore, a "biorefinery" (multi-product) approach to microalgae processing could significantly improve the overall process economics. To address these issues we propose the use of a microalgal biofilm technology whereby microalgae will grow in photoreactors packed with a fibrous substrate (large area to volume ratios). By simple changes in the feed to the reactor we plan to evaluate various aqueous extraction techniques, ranging from aggressive alkaline emulsions (designed to break the cell walls and extract all the biomass) to mild non-toxic