• Energy Research

The present study aimed at investigating the carbon metabolism in terms of carbon dioxide fixation and its destination in microalgae cultivations. To this purpose, analysis of growth parameters, media of cultivation, biomass composition and productivity and nutrients balance were performed. Four microalgae suitable for mass cultivation were evaluated: Dunaliella tertiolecta SAD-13.86, Chlorella vulgaris LEB-104, Spirulina platensis LEB-52 and Botryococcus braunii SAG-30.81. Global rates of carbon dioxide and oxygen were determinated by a system developed in our laboratory. B. braunii presented the highest CO(2) fixation rate, followed by S. platensis,D. tertiolecta and C. vulgaris (496.98, 318.61, 272.4 and 251.64 mg L(-1)day(-1), respectively). Carbon dioxide fixated was mainly used for microalgal biomass production. Nitrogen, phosphorus (calcium for D. tertiolecta), potassium and magnesium consumption rates (mg gX(-1)) were evaluated for the four microalgae. Biomass composition presented a predominance of proteins but also a high amount of lipids, especially in D. tertiolecta and B. braunii.

Abstract The search for renewable and sustainable sources of energy has been one of the main goals of society in recent years, especially to reduce the environmental impacts of fossil fuels. One promising alternative is the production of hydrogen, which does not emit greenhouse gases and can be produced from agro-industrial wastes. The Clostridium genus is recorded as having high hydrogen yields compared to other genus, with several producing species. The objective of this work was to evaluate biohydrogen production potential of four agro-industrial residues, which were soft drink wastewater, corn steep liquor, cheese whey, and expired Guaraná soft drink, using one model strain Clostridium beijerinckii ATCC 8260 and newly isolated Clostridium butyricum DEBB-B348. The agro-industrial wastes were characterised in terms of monosaccharide, organic acid, amino acid, cation, and anion concentrations and compared to the literature. After performing subsequent experimental designs, the significant factors were cheese whey concentration, corn steep liquor concentration, and fermentation time for C. beijerinckii, and corn steep liquor concentration and fermentation time for C. butyricum (p ≤ 0.05), with an R2 of 0.950 and 0.895, respectively. The maximum hydrogen volume production was 18.5 ± 1.68 mL and 27.4 ± 1.84 mL for each strain, respectively. The C. butyricum 16s rRNA gene phylogenetic tree and the carbohydrate, organic acid, and amino acid kinetics of the optimum medium are also presented. These results indicate a potential hydrogen production process utilising less expensive substrates, proposing more proper disposal for agro-industrial wastes and using an isolated strain with high yield.

Abstract The biological production of biohydrogen through dark fermentation is a very complex system where the use of an artificial neuron network (ANN) for prediction, controlling and monitoring has a great potential. In this study three ANN models based on volatile fatty acids (VFA) production and speciation were evaluated for their capacity to predict (i) accumulated H2 production, (ii) hydrogen production rate and (iii) H2 yield. Lab-scale biohydrogen and VFA production kinetics from a previous study were used for training and validation of the models. The input parameters studied were: time and acetate and butyrate concentrations (model 1), time and lactate, acetate, propionate and butyrate concentrations (model 2), time and the sum of all VFA (model 3) and time and butyrate/acetate (model 4). All models could predict biohydrogen accumulated production, hydrogen production rate and H2 yield with high accuracy (R2 > 0.987). VFAT is the input parameter indicated for processes using pure cultures, while for complex/mixed cultures a model based on acetate and butyrate is recommended.

This work evaluates the potential of vinasse (a waste obtained at the bottom of sugarcane ethanol distillation columns) as nutrient source for biohydrogen and volatile fatty acids production by means of anaerobic consortia. Two different media were proposed, using sugarcane juice or molasses as carbon source. The consortium LPBAH1 was selected for fermentation of vinasse supplemented with sugarcane juice, resulting in a higher H2 yield of 7.14 molH2 molsucrose(-1) and hydrogen content in biogas of approx. 31%, while consortium LPBAH2 resulted in 3.66 molH2/molsucrose and 32.7% hydrogen content in biogas. The proposed process showed a rational and economical use for vinasse, a mandatory byproduct of the renewable Brazilian energy matrix.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to determine the best dilute acid hydrolysis condition for the hemicellulosic fraction of sweet sorghum bagasse for ethanol production by Scheffersomyces stipitis. The experiment followed a 23 factorial design with four central points, and had as variables: sulfuric acid concentration, temperature and hydrolysis time. Sorghum bagasse presented the following chemical composition: 24.77% of lignin, 31.28% of hemicellulose and 34.80% of cellulose. The hydrolysis that resulted in the highest sugars concentration (14.22 g/L of xylose and 2.42 g/L glucose) was 1.75% H2SO4, 121 oC and 40 minutes. This same condition provided low concentrations of toxic compounds (1.34 g/L of acetic acid, 0.90 g/L of phenol; 124.54 mg/L of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and 978 mg/L of furfural). The fermentation of the hemicellulose-derived sugars by S. stiptis resulted in 22 g/L of ethanol, YP/S 0.40 g/g and Qp 0.34 g/L.h.

A successful pilot-scale process for biodiesel production from microbial oil (Biooil) produced by Rhodosporidium toruloides DEBB 5533 is presented. Using fed-batch strategy (1000L working volume), a lipid productivity of 0.44g/L.h was obtained using a low-cost medium composed by sugarcane juice and urea. The microbial oil was used for biodiesel production and its performance was evaluated in diesel engine tests, showing very good performance, especially for the blend B20 SCO, when operating at 2500rpm with lower pollutant emissions (CO2 - 220% less; CO - 7-fold less; NOX 50% less and no detectable HC emissions (<0.11ppm)) when compared with the blends of standard biofuel from soybean oil. A preliminary analysis showed that microbial biodiesel is economically competitive (US$ 0.76/L) when compared to the vegetable biodiesel (US$ 0.81/L). Besides, the yield of biodiesel from microbial oil is higher (4172L/ha of cultivated sugarcane) that represents 6.3-fold the yield of standard biodiesel (661L/ha of cultivated soybean).

Abstract This article reports the results of the screening of microalgae capable of removing nitrogen and phosphorus while accumulating lipids in effluents from secondary domestic wastewater treatment. Twenty strains were tested for their growth capacity; the growth parameters of 13 strains were determined, and the following three strains were selected and cultivated in photobioreactors: the isolated and unknown LEM-IM 11, Botryococcus braunii and Chlorella vulgaris. The capacity of each strain to remove nitrogen and phosphorus as well its growth rate and biomass composition was determined. B. braunii LEM 14 showed the best combined results and is a good candidate for the development of a large-scale process. From the treated domestic wastewater, 79.63% of the nitrogen and phosphorus was removed after 14 days of culture at 25 °C. Biomass composition indicated an oil accumulation (36% dry weight) and high carbon uptake (144.91 mg CO 2 g biomass - 1 L−1 day−1). Fatty acid methyl ester analysis showed a predominance of palmitic (C16:0) and oleic (C18:1) acids, with considerable amounts of stearic (C18:0), linoleic (C18:2) and alpha-linolenic (C18:3) acids.

Hydrogen is a clean source of energy with no harmful byproducts produced during its combustion. Bioconversion of different organic waste materials to hydrogen is a sustainable technology for hydrogen production and it has been investigated by several researchers. Crude glycerol generated during biodiesel manufacturing process can also be used as a feedstock for hydrogen production using microbial processes. The possibility of using crude glycerol as a feedstock for biohydrogen production has been reviewed in this article. A review of recent global biodiesel and crude glycerol production and their future market potential has also been carried out. Similarly, different technical constraints of crude glycerol bioconversion have been elaborately discussed and some strategies for improved hydrogen yield have also been proposed. It has been underlined that use of crude glycerol from biodiesel processing plants for hydrogen production has many advantages over the use of other organic wastes as substrate. Most importantly, it will give direct economic benefit to biodiesel manufacturing industries, which in turn will help in increasing biofuel production and it will partially replace harmful fossil fuels with biofuels. However, different impurities present in crude glycerol are known to inhibit microbial growth. Hence, suitable pretreatment of crude glycerol is recommended for maximum hydrogen yield. Similarly, by using suitable bioreactor system and adopting continuous mode of operation, further investigation of hydrogen production using crude glycerol as a substrate should be undertaken. Furthermore, isolation of more productive strains as well as development of engineered microorganism with enhanced hydrogen production potential is recommended. Strategies for application of co-culture of suitable microorganisms as inoculum for crude glycerol bioconversion and improved hydrogen production have also been proposed.