Marc Veillette

Production of Biodiesel from Microalgae

Since the early 70s, several major energy crises have forced the scientific community to find alternative sources of power. In July 2008, the price of crude petroleum reached 145

Biofiltration of air polluted with methane at concentration levels similar to swine slurry emissions: Influence of ammonium concentration

US/barrel, the highest price ever achieved in 30 years (BP, 2011; Ervin & Associated, 2011). In July 2011, the price of crude petroleum was still relatively high at 108

Biovalorization of saccharides derived from industrial wastes such as whey: a review

US/barrel (Ervin & Associated, 2011). Moreover, the 2008 world economic crisis encouraged the United States government to develop biofuels in order to blend them with petroleum fuels without engine modifications or distribution process changes (Bindraban et al., 2009; The White House, 2010). Furthermore, in Canada, by 2012, the objective of adding biodiesel into transportation diesel and heating fuels is 2% (v/v) (Natural Ressources Canada, 2011b).

Biodiesel Production From Microalgae

An evaluation of the effect of ammonium on the performance of two up-flow inorganic packed bed biofilters treating methane was conducted. The air flow rate was set to 3.0 L min−1 for an empty bed residence time of 6.0 min. The biofilter was fed with a methane concentration of 0.30% (v/v). The ammonium concentration in the nutrient solution was increased by small increments (from 0.01 to 0.025 gN-NH4 + L−1) for one biofilter and by large increments of 0.05 gN-NH4 + L−1 in the other biofilter. The total concentration of nitrogen was kept constant at 0.5 gN-NH4 + L−1 throughout the experiment by balancing ammonium with nitrate. For both biofilters, the methane elimination capacity, carbon dioxide production, nitrogen bed retention and biomass content decreased with the ammonium concentration in the nutrient solution. The biofilter with smaller ammonium increments featured a higher elimination capacity and carbon dioxide production rate, which varied from 4.9 to 14.3 g m−3 h−1 and from 11.5 to 30 g m−3 h−1, respectively. Denitrification was observed as some values of the nitrate production rate were negative for ammonium concentrations below 0.2 gN-NH4 + L−1. A Michalelis-Menten-type model fitted the ammonium elimination rate and the nitrate production rate.

Biodiesel from microalgae lipids: from inorganic carbon to energy production

Whey is a liquid waste issued from the transformation of milk into cheese. Whey is a major environmental problem for the dairy industry due to its high organic load, linked to its high content of lactose. It can be valorized by biological processes based on lactose fermentation into different products such as (1) lactic acid (as food additive), (2) 2,3-butanediol (as feedstock to get products such as methyl-ethyl-ketone or 2-butene for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries), (3) biogas (to obtain energy). The production of 2,3-butanediol from saccharides, such as glucose, has been actively studied over previous decades using several types of microorganisms such as Enterobacter aerogenes, Paenibacillus polymyxa, Klebsiella sp., Serratia marcescens and Escherichia coli. Some of these have even been genetically modified to improve the 2,3-butanediol production. The potential whey fermentation process into 2,3-butanediol depends on several operating conditions such as microorganisms, composition of the culture medium, temperature, pH and aeration. This review first presents a summary of the situation of milk and cheese production in Canada and around the world. It also describes the different kinds of whey and their treatment techniques. Finally, this paper describes the production of 2,3-butanediol from saccharides by various microorganisms under different operating conditions.

Biovalorization of glucose in four culture media and effect of the nitrogen source on fermentative alcohols production by Escherichia coli

By 2020, according to several government policies like the European Union countries, road transportation fuels must contain at least 10% (v/v) biofuel like biodiesel. Consequently, the world biodiesel production is expected to rise in the next years. However, most biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils, which compete with human food production. Biodiesel from microalgae could help to reach the requested level of biofuel (biodiesel) without endangering the world food supply because microalgae cultivation does not compete with arable land. Nevertheless, the cost of biodiesel production from microalgae must be lowered. One of the main challenges is to extract the lipids from the microalgae and to transform them into biodiesel. The 1 st objective of this study was therefore to compare chloroformmethanol-water and hexane as solvents for Nannochloropsis Oculata, Isochrysis Galbana and Pavlova Lutheri microalgae lipid extraction. The 2 nd objective was to transform the lipids into biodiesel by an acid catalysed (acetyl chloride) transesterification. The results obtained demonstrated that a lipid yield of 32% (w/w) could be obtained by an extraction with chloroform-methanol-water without reflux. With hexane reflux, the lipids extracted from the microalgae reached 22% (w/w). The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) composition was not influenced by the reflux (chloroform-methanol-water) during the solvent extraction. The main FAME weight composition (% wt.) obtained from an acid catalyzed transesterification (100oC, 1h) were methyl palmitoleate (56-58%), methyl palmitate (12-14%) and methyl eicosapentaenoate (9.6-10.1%).

Biodiesel Production From Microalgae: Influence Of Pretreatment On Lipid Extraction

ABSTRACT Following the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP21 (Paris, France), several countries have attempted to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reach this objective, microalgae could be used to capture carbon dioxide and transform it into a biomass composed essentially of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins. Moreover, cultivating microalgae does not require arable land, in opposition to several oleaginous plants used to produce biofuels. Despite the fact that microalgae could be transformed into several biofuels such as bioethanol (by fermentation of hydrocarbons) and biomethane (by anaerobic digestion), transforming lipids into biodiesel could allow the reduction of oil-based diesel consumption. However, microalgae biodiesel production costs remain high for a short-term commercialization. The microalgae lipids can be transesterified into biodiesel in the presence of catalysts (homogeneous or heterogeneous). In order to commercialize biodiesel from microalgae, biodiesel physicochemical properties must respect the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. The aim of the study was to describe the current technologies available to produce biodiesel from microalgae.

Biodiesel production from used frying oil and microalgae: a preliminary study

ABSTRACT Glucose is one of the most abundant monosaccharides and the easiest carbon source to be consumed by bacteria. In this study, four culture media (LB, M9, M63 and MOPS) were supplemented with glucose at three different concentrations (4, 12.5 and 25 g/L) in the presence of a genetically modified strain of Escherichia coli with the purpose of selecting the most suitable culture medium to obtain ABD (acetoin (A) and 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD)). The selected medium was M9, the cheapest culture medium, since the ABD yields obtained fermenting 12.5 and 25 g/L of glucose in M9 culture medium at 37°C, atmospheric pressure, initial pH 6.5, 100 rpm and 10% (v/v) of inoculum were similar compared to the ABD yields obtained using M63 and LB culture media. The influence of nitrogen on ABD yield was tested adding sodium nitrate (NaNO3) or urea ((NH2)2CO) to M9 culture medium at three different nitrogen concentrations (2.5, 5.0 and 7.0 g N/L). Adding urea (7.0 g N/L) to M9 supplemented with 25 g/L of glucose improved by 23% the ABD yield at 96 h compared to M9 without urea, reaching a value of 27.2% (g ABD/g glucose). In contrast, the use of NaNO3 had no significant effect on the ABD yield. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Effect of ammonium concentration on microbial population and performance of a biofilter treating air polluted with methane

By having the objective of reducing their global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and their petroleum dependency, many industrialized countries like European Union countries support the sustainable development and will increase, by 2020, the ratio of biofuel (bioethanol or biodiesel) blend with transportation fuel to 10% (v/v). However, this objective could deprive the world of arable lands needed to feed 320 to 460 million people. To replace conventional vegetable oils (for example, canola oil) to produce biodiesel, microalgae could be used as the bulk material, as their total lipid yield can be as high as 75% (w/w). To produce biodiesel, the lipids must previously be extracted from the wet microalgae. This study showed that microalgae could be directly extracted without dewatering process with a yield of 29.0% (w/w) by using boiling pretreatments (water phase). The yield obtained was slightly lower than the traditional extraction methods (33.0% w/w) implying the costly technique of freeze-drying. The results also showed that the chemical physicochemical pretreatment considered had no influence on the composition of the fatty acid methyl esters of the biodiesel produced with methyl pal mitoleate as the major component with up to 28.0% (w/w).

Function and limits of biofilters for the removal of methane in exhaust gases from the pig industry

In order to replace 1st generation biodiesel, used frying oil (UFO) and microalgae lipids (Tetraselmis sp.) were tested as feedstocks for biodiesel production. The following conditions were tested for UFO homogenous alkali transesterification: temperature – 60oC; methanol to UFO molar ratio – 6:1; catalyst (potassium hydroxide) to UFO mass ratio – 1%; reaction time – 10 min. A biodiesel yield of 80% (g biodiesel/g UFO) was obtained with a fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content of 87% (g FAME/g biodiesel). For microalgae lipids homogenous acid transesterification (catalyst: sulphuric acid), a reaction time of 10 min and a temperature of 68oC led to a biodiesel yield of 50% (g biodiesel/g lipid). This study showed the potential of Tetraselmis sp. microalgae as feedstock for biodiesel production even if UFO resulted in a higher biodiesel yield.