Project description:BackgroundA platform for the utilization of the Chlorella sp. biomass and sugarcane leaves to produce multiple products (biorefinery concept) including hydrogen, methane, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), lipid, and soil supplement with the goal to achieve the zero waste generation (circular economy) is demonstrated in this study. Microalgal biomass were hydrolyzed by mixed enzymes while sugarcane leaves were pretreated with alkali followed by enzyme. Hydrolysates were used to produce hydrogen and the hydrogenic effluent was used to produce multi-products. Solid residues at the end of hydrogen fermentation and the remaining acidified slurries from methane production were evaluated for the compost properties.ResultsThe maximum hydrogen yield of 207.65 mL-H2/g-volatile solid (VS)added was obtained from 0.92, 15.27, and 3.82 g-VS/L of Chlorella sp. biomass hydrolysate, sugarcane leaf hydrolysate, and anaerobic sludge, respectively. Hydrogenic effluent produced 321.1 mL/g-VS of methane yield, 2.01 g/L PHAs concentration, and 0.20 g/L of lipid concentration. Solid residues and the acidified slurries at the end of the hydrogen and methane production process were proved to have compost properties.ConclusionHydrogen production followed by methane, PHA and lipid productions is a successful integrated circular biorefinery platform to efficiently utilize the hydrolysates of Chlorella sp. biomass and sugarcane leaf. The potential use of the solid residues at the end of hydrogen fermentation and the remaining acidified slurries from methane production as soil supplements demonstrates the zero waste concept. The approach revealed in this study provides a foundation for the optimal use of feedstock, resulting in zero waste.
Project description:Most commercial production of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins involves the use of mammalian cell lines, E. coli or yeast as the expression host. However, recent work has demonstrated the potential of eukaryotic microalgae as platforms for light-driven synthesis of such proteins. Expression in the algal chloroplast is particularly attractive since this organelle contains a minimal genome suitable for rapid engineering using synthetic biology approaches; with transgenes precisely targeted to specific genomic loci and amenable to high-level, regulated and stable expression. Furthermore, proteins can be tightly contained and bio-encapsulated in the chloroplast allowing accumulation of proteins otherwise toxic to the host, and opening up possibilities for low-cost, oral delivery of biologics. In this commentary we illustrate the technology with recent examples of hormones, protein antibiotics and immunotoxins successfully produced in the algal chloroplast, and highlight possible future applications.
Project description:Key challenges for the application of biodiesel include their high acid value, high viscosity, and low ester content. It is essential to develop later-generation biodiesel from unexploited non-food resources for a more sustainable future. Reuse of biowaste is critically important to address these issues of food safety and sustainability. Thus, the co-transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO), algal oil (AO) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) for the synthesis of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) was investigated over a series of nanoparticle catalysts containing calcium, magnesium, potassium or nickel under mild reaction conditions. Nanoparticle catalyst samples were prepared from biowaste sources of chicken manure (CM), water hyacinth (WH) and algal bloom (AB), and characterized using XRD, Raman and FESEM techniques for the heterogeneous production of biodiesel. The catalyst was initially prepared by calcination at 850 °C for 4 h in a major presence of CaxMgyCO3, KCl and K2CO3. The WCO and AO co-conversion of 98% and FAMEs co-selectivity of 95% were obtained over CM nanoparticle catalyst under the reaction conditions of 80 °C, 20 mins and DMC to oil molar ratio of 6:1 with 3% catalyst loading and 3% methanol addition. Under the optimum condition, the density, viscosity, and cetane number of the biodiesel were in the range of diesel standards. Nanoparticle catalysts have been proven as a promising sustainable material in the catalytic transesterification of WCO and AO with the major presence of calcium, magnesium and potassium. This study highlights a sustainable approach via biowaste utilization for the enhancement of biodiesel quality with high ester content, low acid value, high cetane number, and low viscosity.
Project description:To determine the mechanisms of fleshy fruit abscission of the monocot oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) compared with other abscission systems, we performed multi-scale comparative transcriptome analyses on fruit targeting the developing primary AZ and adjacent tissues. Combining between-tissue developmental comparisons with exogenous ethylene treatments, and naturally occurring abscission in the field, RNAseq analysis revealed a robust core set of 168 genes with differentially regulated expression, spatially associated with the ripe fruit AZ, and temporally restricted to the abscission timing. The expression of a set of candidate genes was validated by qRT-PCR in the fruit AZ of a natural oil palm variant with blocked fruit abscission, which provides evidence for their functions during abscission. Our results substantiate the conservation of gene function between dicot dry fruit dehiscence and monocot fleshy fruit abscission. The study also revealed major metabolic transitions occur in the AZ during abscission, including key senescence marker genes and transcriptional regulators, in addition to genes involved in nutrient recycling and reallocation, alternative routes for energy supply and adaptation to oxidative stress. The study provides the first reference transcriptome of a monocot fleshy fruit abscission zone and provides insight into the mechanisms underlying abscission by identifying key genes with functional roles and processes, including metabolic transitions, cell wall modifications, signalling, stress adaptations and transcriptional regulation, that occur during ripe fruit abscission of the monocot oil palm. The transcriptome data comprises an original reference and resource useful towards understanding the evolutionary basis of this fundamental plant process.
Project description:Since several years there has been a demand for food products free of palm oil, noticeable in the Western European market. Alternatives based on liquid oils, fully hydrogenated fats, and exotic fats like shea and sal etc., have been developed by the research groups of several specialty oils and fats suppliers. This article describes the advantages and disadvantages of those products and compares them to similar products based on palm oil. It is also discussed how reasonable the replacement of palm products would be, since sustainable and 3-MCPD/glycidolester-reduced palm based specialty oils are also available on the market.
Project description:Recently, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been indicated to be utilized as part of a biorefinery, rather than as a stand-alone technology, since besides extracting added value compounds selectively it has been shown to have a positive effect on the downstream processing of biomass. To this extent, this work evaluates economically the encouraging experimental results regarding the use of SFE during annatto seeds valorization. Additionally, other features were discussed such as the benefits of enhancing the bioactive compounds concentration through physical processes and of integrating the proposed annatto seeds biorefinery to a hypothetical sugarcane biorefinery, which produces its essential inputs, e.g., CO₂, ethanol, heat and electricity. For this, first, different configurations were modeled and simulated using the commercial simulator Aspen Plus® to determine the mass and energy balances. Next, each configuration was economically assessed using MATLAB. SFE proved to be decisive to the economic feasibility of the proposed annatto seeds-sugarcane biorefinery concept. SFE pretreatment associated with sequential fine particles separation process enabled higher bixin-rich extract production using low-pressure solvent extraction method employing ethanol, meanwhile tocotrienols-rich extract is obtained as a first product. Nevertheless, the economic evaluation showed that increasing tocotrienols-rich extract production has a more pronounced positive impact on the economic viability of the concept.
Project description:With continued development of integrated and continuous downstream purification processes, tuning and optimization become increasingly complicated with additional parameters and codependent variables over the sequence. This article offers a novel perspective of nonlinear optimization of integrated sequences with regard to individual column sizes, flow rates, and scheduling. The problem setup itself is a versatile tool to be used in downstream design which is demonstrated in two case studies: a four-column integrated sequence and a continuously loaded twin-capture setup with five columns.