Cultivation of Microalgae <i>Monoraphidium</i> sp., in the Plant Pilot the Grand Valle Bio Energy, for Biodiesel Production

Abstract

At present, Brazil imports approximately 11 billion liters/year of diesel. With the interruption of the works in the new Petrobras refineries, the projection is that by 2025 this volume will increase to 24.2 billion liters of diesel/year. In this sense, the biodiesel factory Grand Valle Bio Energy Ltda., located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in conjunction with the FAPERJ makes some investments in technology development for the cultivation and use of microalgae as an alternative raw material in the production of biodiesel. Based on arguments previously said, this work presents the results of the microalgae cultivation Monoraphidium sp. in photobioreactors the pilot plant of the company. The installation with an area of 120 m 2 is included with 2 open photobioreactors of type falling film (20 m × 1 m), with a cascade of 18mm and capacity of 4000 L. The lineage cultivated is selected from previous ecophysiological studies that are identified as promising for biodiesel production by having a high potential for the production of lipids. This lineage is maintained at collection of the stock of cultures Laboratory of Green Technologies of the School of Chemistry/ UFRJ. The cultivation was performed in means ASM-1 (Gorham et al., 1964), initial pH 8.0, with aeration and circulation average of 8 hours a day during 19 days. The culture was started with an inoculum of 1 × 10 7 cel/ml. The lipid production was determined in two phases of growth: on day 4 (exponential phase) and 15 day (stationary phase). For the determination and quantification of lipid content, two different methods were assessed for a sample of biomass, submitted to the same processes the separation and drying. The results showed the methodology of Bligh & Dyer with modifications as the most efficient in extracting lipids. The total lipid content of the biomass Monoraphidium sp. was 30.58%. The growth rate varied between 0.74 ± 0.01 and 0.68 ± 0.02.

Photobioreactor of Microalgas for CO<sub>2</sub> Biofixation

“…The protein and carbohydrate contents obtained in this study correspond to the values reported in the literature for this microalgae species that are between 28% -45% of proteins and 17% -35% of carbohydrates [23]. According to these The content of biodiesel convertible lipids (LCB) was 8.36%, a value considered low when compared to other studies that appear in the literature that report values between 15% and 20% [30].…”

Biomass production and nutrient assimilation by a novel microalga, Monoraphidium spp. SDEC-17, cultivated in a high-ammonia wastewater

“…The EAAI was above 0.9 in our three media, which suggests that SDEC-17 could produce the best protein based on a FAO/WHO [32] standard and become a good protein source for animal food. In contrast to protein, cultivation with CW and CW 0 BG11 cut down the carbohydrate content in algae cells slightly, lower than the general value (17-25%) summarized by Díaz et al [33]. However, regarding the sum proportion of protein and carbohydrate, the media CW (59%) exhibited superiority over BG11 media (51%), indicating that cultivation of SDEC-17 with CW might become a very economical way to support feedstock supply for fermentation of bioethanol compared with the cultivation in BG11.…”

“…These data are consistent with the typical protein content in the biomass Monoraphidium sp. (28-45%) reported by Díaz et al [33]. Cultivating SDEC-17 in CW improved the protein content a lot, making it even higher than that in other native species [7,31] and S. subsalsa in CW [9].…”

“…Based on the typical protein content of Monoraphidium sp. (28-45%) and a conversion factor of 6.25 [33], the value of nitrogen content in biomass was estimated as usually 4.5-7.2%, lower than the data presented in this study. That might result from ammonia stripping and explain the higher protein content in cells with CW (Fig.…”

Microalgae biorefineries: applications and emerging technologies

“…This company developed the cultivation of the microalga Monoraphidium sp. in pilot-scale photobioreactors [181].…”