Environmental evaluation of eicosapentaenoic acid production by Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Environmental life cycle optimization of essential terpene oils produced by the macroalga Ochtodes secundiramea

“…The cultivation stage was identified as the main contributor to the environmental impacts (Alvarado-Morales et al, 2013;Pérez-López et al, 2014a), linked to the high electricity requirements of the process (Aresta et al, 2005;Khoo et al, 2011;Pérez-López et al, 2014a). Other secondary processes, such as the production of chemicals for the extraction stage, were found to have a remarkable impact in specific categories, in accordance with LCA studies for microalgae (Pérez-López et al, 2014b). Due to the relevant contributions of the cultivation and extraction stages, two improved scenarios are proposed below.…”

“…While microalgal cultivation processes have already been analyzed in detail as renewable energy sources (Brentner et al, 2011;Collet et al, 2011;Khoo et al, 2011;Langlois et al, 2012;Lardon et al, 2009;Stephenson et al, 2010) and also for the production of high value biomolecules (Pérez-López et al, 2014a;2014b), the few studies about the environmental effects of macroalgae focus on their use as energy sourcesranging from direct combustion to gasification or anaerobic digestion (Aresta et al, 2005), biogas production being the most common route (Alvarado-Morales et al, 2013;Langlois et al, 2012;Pilicka et al, 2011).…”

“…The identification of additional bioactive compounds that could potentially be extracted from the remaining biomass would substantially help to improve the environmental performance of the production process. Moreover, the remaining biomass after high-value compounds extraction could be applied in an anaerobic digestion process to recover energy and produce fertilizers (Collet et al, 2011), although the environmental benefits obtained in other LCA studies of bioactive compounds associated with this recovery process are limited due to the high impact of the cultivation and extraction stages (Pérez-López et al, 2014b). Thus, the development of a process for the efficient use of macroalgal biomass may require the combined optimization of energy-intensive stages, linked to high environmental burdens, with the maximization of co-product recovery that contributes to reduce the individual impact of each obtained fraction.…”

Recovery of Functional Pigments from four Different Species of Microalgae

“…P. tricornutum belongs to the Bacillariophyceae (diatoms), formerly classified as Nitzschia closterium [10]. The most notable characteristic of this strain is its ability to grow to high cell densities, reaching in PUFAs and carotenoids [11], [12]. The presented work aimed to optimize the recovery of bioactive compounds from 4 microalgae species obtaining multifunctional total extracts.…”

Effect of phosphorus and growth phases on the transcription levels of EPA biosynthesis genes in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

“…However, the contamination and sustainability of these stocks and the marine environment raise concerns regarding the supply for the growing consumer market (Nichols et al 2010). Important concerns about the presence of contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals (mercury for example) have been associated with fish oil as a source of EPA, as it is a potential problem for human nutrition (Khozin-Goldberg et al 2011;Pérez-López et al 2014).…”