Mina Sung

Biodiesel production from yeast Cryptococcus sp. using Jerusalem artichoke.

Jerusalem artichoke was investigated as a cheap substrate for the heterotrophic production using a lab yeast strain Cryptococcus sp. Using Response Surface Method, 54.0% of fructose yield was achieved at 12% of dried Jerusalem artichoke powder, 0.57% of nitric acid concentration, 117°C of reaction temperature, and 49min of reaction time. At this optimal condition, nitric acid showed the best catalytic activity toward inulin hydrolysis and also the resulting fructose hydrolyte supported the highest microbial growth compared with other acids. In addition, lipid productivity of 1.73g/L/d was achieved, which is higher than a defined medium using pure fructose as a substrate. Lipid quality was also found to be generally satisfactory as a feedstock for fuel, demonstrating Jerusalem artichoke could indeed be a good and cheap option for the purpose of biodiesel production.

Ferric chloride based downstream process for microalgae based biodiesel production

In this study, ferric chloride (FeCl3) was used to integrate downstream processes (harvesting, lipid extraction, and esterification). At concentration of 200 mg/L and at pH 3, FeCl3 exhibited an expected degree of coagulation and an increase in cell density of ten times (170 mg/10 mL). An iron-mediated oxidation reaction, Fenton-like reaction, was used to extract lipid from the harvested biomass, and efficiency of 80% was obtained with 0.5% H2O2 at 90 °C. The iron compound was also employed in the esterification step, and converted free fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters under acidic conditions; thus, the fatal problem of saponification during esterification with alkaline catalysts was avoided, and esterification efficiency over 90% was obtained. This study clearly showed that FeCl3 in the harvesting process is beneficial in all downstream steps and have a potential to greatly reduce the production cost of microalgae-originated biodiesel.

Lipid extraction from microalgae cell using persulfate-based oxidation.

In this study, persulfate, a solid-type oxidant, was adopted as a substitute for hydrogen peroxide in extracting lipid from microalgae biomass. Microalgae cells were concentrated at pH 3 and with 200mg/L of ferric chloride, conditions which can activate oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide and persulfate. At a persulfate concentration of 2mM and a reaction temperature of 90°C, exceedingly high extraction efficiency over 95% was obtained, which was higher than with 0.5% hydrogen peroxide at the same temperature. This result showed that persulfate is sufficiently powerful and incomparably cheap enough to replace the potent yet expensive oxidant. It appears that combining iron-based coagulation and persulfate-based lipid extraction is indeed a competitive approach that can possibly lighten the process burden for the microalgae-derived biodiesel production.

Lactulose production from cheese whey using recyclable catalyst ammonium carbonate

Ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2CO3) was used as an alkaline catalyst of lactulose production from cheese whey. Maximum yield of 29.6% was obtained at reaction time of 28.44 min, (NH4)2CO3 of 0.76% at 97°C. During reaction, (NH4)2CO3 was fully decomposed to NH3 and CO2, and these gases were recovered. To boost up NH3 recovery, various methods such as heating, aeration, and pH adjustment were applied. The optimal condition for the purpose of NH3 retrieval was temperature of up to 60°C alongside aeration. Easy separation and recovery make (NH4)2CO3 a catalyst alternative to common alkaline chemicals especially for the weak alkaline reaction.

Microalgae dewatering based on forward osmosis employing proton exchange membrane

In this study, electrically-facilitated forward osmosis (FO) employing proton exchange membrane (PEM) was established for the purpose of microalgae dewatering. An increase in water flux was observed when an external voltage was applied to the FO equipped with the PEM; as expected, the trend became more dramatic with both concentration of draw solution and applied voltage raised. With this FO used for microalgae dewatering, 247% of increase in flux and 86% in final biomass concentration were observed. In addition to the effect on flux improvement, the electrically-facilitated FO exhibited the ability to remove chlorophyll from the dewatered biomass, down to 0.021±0015mg/g cell. All these suggest that the newly suggested electrically-facilitated FO, one particularly employed PEM, can indeed offer a workable way of dewatering of microalgae; it appeared to be so because it can also remove the ever-problematic chlorophyll from extracted lipids in a simultaneous fashion.

Lipid extraction and esterification for microalgae-based biodiesel production using pyrite (FeS2)

In this study, pyrite (FeS2) was used for lipid extraction as well as esterification processes for microalgae-based biodiesel production. An iron-mediated oxidation reaction, Fenton-like reaction, produced an expected degree of lipid extraction, but pyrite was less effective than FeCl3 commercial powder. That low efficiency was improved by using oxidized pyrite, which showed an equivalent lipid extraction efficiency to FeCl3, about 90%, when 20 mM of catalyst was used. Oxidized pyrite was also employed in the esterification step, and converted free fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters under acidic conditions; thus, the fatal problem of saponification during esterification with alkaline catalysts was avoided, and esterification efficiency over 90% was obtained. This study clearly showed that pyrite could be utilized as a cheap catalyst in the lipid extraction and esterification steps for microalgae-based biodiesel production.

Alkaline in situ transesterification of Aurantiochytrium sp. KRS 101 using potassium carbonate.

The aims of this work were to evaluate K2CO3 as a potent alkaline catalyst for in situ transesterification of Aurantiochytrium sp. KRS 101, one step process in which oil extraction and conversion take place together. This K2CO3-based in situ transesterification was optimized in terms of recovery yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) by way of varying biomass concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. The optimal condition was achieved at 50g/L of biomass concentration and 1% of K2CO3 in the methanol, 25°C of reaction temperature, and 5min of reaction time, resulting in the FAME recovery yield over 90%. It was found that K2CO3 performed better than any other tested catalysts including acids, supporting the notion that K2CO3 is a promising catalyst, especially for in situ transesterification.

Lipid extraction from microalgae cell using UV-Fenton-like reaction

In this study, UV light was adopted to make it possible to attain sufficiently high extraction efficiency even with a minimal amount of H2O2. The Fenton-like reaction showed 80% of lipid extraction efficiency with 0.5% H2O2, whereas the provision of 16 W UV increased efficiency to 85% and decreased H2O2 consumption to 0.3%. This oxidation-based lipid extraction means have one fortuitous yet beneficial effect to remove chlorophylls, which are known to degrade the quality of the final product like biodiesel. The UV-Fenton-like reaction was found to eliminate 77% of chlorophylls. Such oxidation-based lipid extraction approaches as the Fenton-like reaction appear to have the sure application potential; and it is more so with the help of UV.

Ultrasound-assisted in-situ transesterification of wet Aurantiochytrium sp. KRS 101 using potassium carbonate

A new in-situ transesterification method was developed for wet biomass: K2CO3 was used as an alkaline catalyst and, Aurantiochytrium sp. KRS 101 as oleaginous DHA-producing microalgae. It was found that the presence of water greatly impaired the overall efficiency even with the powerful catalyst that had worked surpassingly well with dry biomass, and thus a mechanical aid like ultrasonication was needed to make advantage of full potential of the alkaline catalyst. The total fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) recovery yield of 94.6% was achieved with sonication at 100 g/L of biomass (40% moisture), 3% of K2CO3, 70 °C and 30 min. All these suggest that the ultrasound assisted in-situ transesterification can offer a feasible means for FAEE recovery and it was so by way of overcoming the physical limitation of mass transfer caused the presence of water and providing effective contacts between reactants.