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BACKGROUND: A major hurdle with algal biodiesel production has been the energy required to dry algal biomass prior to lipid extraction and/or conversion. Water interferes with the extraction and/or conversion of algal lipids to biodiesel. The focus of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the in situ transesterification method for biodiesel recovery when processing algal biomass with varying amounts of moisture and to evaluate changes in efficiency as in situ transesterification reaction parameters were varied. RESULTS: Results indicated that moisture content affected biodiesel recovery. Specifically, algal biomass moisture contents above 20% by mass led to statistically significant reductions in biodiesel recovery. However, increasing the amount of catalyst and/or methanol in the reaction resulted in higher recoveries when using wet algal biomass containing 84% moisture. Using 10% (v/v) sulfuric acid in methanol with the wet biomass to solution ratio of 25 mg (dry mass equivalent) mL -1 resulted in the recovery of approximately 81% of the maximum biodiesel yield.CONCLUSION: This study showed that the presence of moisture at greater than 20% by mass in algal biomass significantly decreased biodiesel recovery when using in situ transesterification. Increasing the amount of methanol and/or catalyst in the reaction improved biodiesel recovery from wet algal biomass.

Syngas fermentation for fuels and chemicals is limited by the low rate of gas-to-liquid mass transfer. In this work, a unique bulk-gas-to-atomized-liquid (BGAL) contactor was developed to enhance mass transfer. In the BGAL system, liquid is atomized into discrete droplets, which significantly increases the interface between the liquid and bulk gas. Using oxygen as a model gas, the BGAL contactor achieved an oxygen transfer rate (OTR) of 569 mg·L -1 ·min -1 and a mass transfer coefficient (KLa) of 2.28 sec -1 , which are values as much as 100-fold greater than achieved in other kinds of reactors. The BGAL contactor was then combined with a packed bed to implement syngas fermentation, with packing material supporting a biofilm upon which gas saturated liquid is dispersed. This combination avoids dispersing these gas-saturated droplets into the bulk liquid, which would significantly dilute the dissolved gas concentration. Although this combination reduced overall KLa to 0.45-1.0 sec -1 , it is still nearly 20 times higher than achieved in a stirred tank reactor. The BGAL contactor/packed bed bioreactor was also more energy efficient in transferring gas to the liquid phase, requiring 8.63-26.32 J mg -1 O2 dissolved, which is as much as four-fold reduction in energy requirement compared to a stirred tank reactor. Fermentation of syngas to ethanol was evaluated in the BGAL contactor/packed bed bioreactor using Clostridium carboxidivorans P7.Ethanol productivity reached 746 mg·L -1 ·hr -1 with an ethanol/acetic acid molar ratio of 7.6. The ethanol productivity was two-fold high than the highest level previously reported. The exceptional capability of BGAL contactor to enhance mass transfer in these experiments suggests its utility in syngas fermentation as well as other gas-liquid contacting processes.