A produção de biocombustíveis a partir das microalgas vem se tornando promissora por ser uma fonte renovável, não poluente e por não competir com áreas de cultivo de alimentos. Devido à exaustão das fontes fósseis e à alta demanda por combustível de origem renovável e não poluente, as microalgas vêm despertando interesse nos cenários energético e ambiental. Por outro lado, existe um elevado custo no cultivo das mesmas, fazendo-se necessário estudos para desenvolvimento de novos reatores, meios de cultivos, técnicas de colheita, de extração de lipídios, transesterificação e também a implementação do conceito de biorrefinaria. Levando em conta o interesse crescente na utilização das microalgas como matéria prima na produção de biocombustíveis e a necessidade de estudos que torne o cultivo das microalgas em grande escala economicamente viável, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo determinar as melhores condições para o cultivo da microalga Chlorella vulgaris, buscando uma maior produtividade de biomassa e de lipídios. Os fatores avaliados foram: tempo de luminosidade, reciclo da biomassa após extração de lipídios e concentração de nutrientes (NaNO3, K2HPO4, KH2PO4 e glicerol) no meio de cultivo, em um arranjo ortogonal de Taguchi L8. De acordo com os resultados, identificou-se uma maior relevância, para a produtividade de biomassa, a utilização de glicerol e luminosidade (12 h), seguido do NaNO3 em alta concentração. A utilização de biomassa extraída mostrou-se inviável para o processo de cultivo, e a utilização de K2HPO4, KH2PO4 foram pouco influentes, porém essenciais. Paralelamente foi avaliado a viabilidade em se utilizar o efluente da Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto (ETE) da Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL-USP) como meio de cultivo em um reator de PVC, construído para cultivo heterotrófico, no qual obteve-se uma alta produtividade de biomassa (0,20 g.L-1.d-1) e de lipídios (83,35 mg.L-1.d-1), se comparados a outros processos. / The production of biofuels from microalgae has become promising because it is a renewable, non-polluting source and because it does not compete with food growing areas. Due to the exhaustion of fossil fuel sources and the high demand of fuel from renewable and non-polluting origin, microalgae have been attracting interest in the energy and environmental scenarios. On the other hand, there is a high cost to cultivate microalgae, making necessary studies for the development of new reactors, culture media, harvesting techniques, lipid extraction, transesterification and also the implementation of the biorefinery concept. Taking the growing interest in the use of microalgae as a raw material in the production of biofuels and the need of studies to make large-scale microalgae cultivation economically viable, this research aimed to determination of the best conditions for the cultivation of microalga Chlorella vulgaris, seeking a higher productivity of biomass and lipids. The factors evaluated were: time of luminosity, biomass recycling after lipid extraction and nutrient concentration (NaNO3, K2HPO4, KH2PO4 and glycerol) in the culture medium using a orthogonal arrangement of Taguchi L8. According to the results, a greater relevance was identified for biomass productivity, the use of glycerol and luminosity (12 h), followed by NaNO3 in high concentration. The use of extracted biomass proved to be impractical for the process, and the use of K2HPO4, KH2PO4 was weak but essential. In parallel, the feasibility of using the effluent of the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) on Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL-USP) as a culture medium for a PVC reactor, built for heterotrophic cultivation. It was obtained higger productivity of biomass (0.20 g.L-1.d-1) and lipids (83.35 mg.L-1.d-1) from it, if you compare to others process.

Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Bioengenharia. Área de Especialização de Engenharia Biológica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2012

Much effort has been devoted to the synthesis of gold nanoparticles with different shapes, including the zero-dimensional nanospheres, one dimensional nanorods, and two-dimensional nanoplates. Compared to zero or one dimensional nanostructures, the synthesis of two-dimensional nanostructures in high yield has always been more involved, often requiring complex and time-consuming steps such as morphology transformation from the nanospheres, or the seeded growth process. Herein we report a high yield method for gold nanoplate synthesis using the extract of unicellular green alga Chlorella vulgaris, which can be carried out under ambient conditions. More than 90% of the total nanoparticle population is of the platelet morphology, surpassing the previously reported value of 45%. The control of the anisotropic growth of different planes; as well as the lateral size, has also been partially optimized. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

With the current interest in alternative methods of energy production and increased utilization of existing energy sources, microbial fuel cells have become an important field of research. Microbial fuel cells are devices which harvest electrons from microorganisms created by their enzymatic oxidation of complex carbon substrates or consumed by their reduction of chemical oxidants. Microbial fuel cells with photosynthetic biocathodes are of particular interest due to their ability to simultaneously produce electricity and hydrocarbons while reducing carbon dioxide. Most species of microorganisms including many bacteria and yeasts require exogenous electron transfer mediators in order to allow electron transfer with an electrode. While adding such chemicals is simple enough at a lab scale, problems arise with chemical costs and separation at a larger scale. The goal of this research was to develop electrodes composed of a robust material which will eliminate the need for added soluble electron mediators in a photosynthetic biocathode microbial fuel cell. Electrodes made from stainless steel 304L have been coated in a conductive polymer (polypyrrole) and an immobilized electron transfer mediator (methylene blue) and tested chemically for stability and in a microbial fuel cell environment for use in bioanodes and biocathodes. The use of these immobilized mediator in the photosynthetic biocathode increased the open circuit voltage of the cell from 0.17 V to 0.24 V and the short circuit current from 8 mA/m2 to 64 mA/m2 (normalized to the geometric surface area of the electrode) when compared to using the same mediator in solution. The opposite effect was seen when using the electrodes in a bioanode utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The open circuit voltage decreased from 0.37 V to 0.31 V and the short circuit current decreased from 94 mA/m2 to 24 mA/m2 when comparing the immobilized mediator to soluble mediators. The impact of the membrane and pH of the anode and cathode solutions were quantified and were found to have much less of an effect on the internal resistance than the microbial factors.

With the current interest in alternative methods of energy production and increased utilization of existing energy sources, microbial fuel cells have become an important field of research. Microbial fuel cells are devices which harvest electrons from microorganisms created by their enzymatic oxidation of complex carbon substrates or consumed by their reduction of chemical oxidants. Microbial fuel cells with photosynthetic biocathodes are of particular interest due to their ability to simultaneously produce electricity and hydrocarbons while reducing carbon dioxide. Most species of microorganisms including many bacteria and yeasts require exogenous electron transfer mediators in order to allow electron transfer with an electrode. While adding such chemicals is simple enough at a lab scale, problems arise with chemical costs and separation at a larger scale. The goal of this research was to develop electrodes composed of a robust material which will eliminate the need for added soluble electron mediators in a photosynthetic biocathode microbial fuel cell. Electrodes made from stainless steel 304L have been coated in a conductive polymer (polypyrrole) and an immobilized electron transfer mediator (methylene blue) and tested chemically for stability and in a microbial fuel cell environment for use in bioanodes and biocathodes. The use of these immobilized mediator in the photosynthetic biocathode increased the open circuit voltage of the cell from 0.17 V to 0.24 V and the short circuit current from 8 mA/m2 to 64 mA/m2 (normalized to the geometric surface area of the electrode) when compared to using the same mediator in solution. The opposite effect was seen when using the electrodes in a bioanode utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The open circuit voltage decreased from 0.37 V to 0.31 V and the short circuit current decreased from 94 mA/m2 to 24 mA/m2 when comparing the immobilized mediator to soluble mediators. The impact of the membrane and pH of the anode and cathode solutions were quantified and were found to have much less of an effect on the internal resistance than the microbial factors.

Thèse doctorat : Sciences et Techniques du Déchet : Villeurbanne, INSA : 2004. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. p. 161-171.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1980 u.d.T.: Eppler, Birgit: Aggregation von Bacillus cereus und Chlorella vulgaris in Gegenwart von Natriumionen und Kalziumionen--Karlsruhe.

Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Berlin. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format. Erscheinungsjahr an der Haupttitelstelle: 2005.

In recent years, there has been a concern for the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and how it will be captured. One way to capture carbon dioxide is with algae. In this study, algae's growth was measured at different temperatures. The first part of the study was to grow Scenedesmus and Chlorella with M8 or urea growth media at a temperature of 25, 30 or 35ºC. It was found that 30ºC had the best growth rates for both algae. The second part studied Scenedesmus growth with urea, more in-depth, and found the optimum growth temperature to be 27.5ºC with a growth rate of 0.29 1/hr. The last part of the study was a heat transfer model which predicted the temperature of a greenhouse and an outdoor unit. The model could also predict the growth rate of the algae and the temperature if flue gas is mixed in with the algae.

Milk fat is one of the most important components of goat milk. Another benefit of goat milk fat is its better digestibility in comparison with cow milk, which is caused by the smaller size of lipid micelles. Goat milk fat contains more lower fatty acids (caproic, caprylic and capric), which affect the production and processing of milk and cause specific flavor of goat's milk and dairy products. In recent years, the subject of many studies the possibility of increasing the content of other health beneficial fatty acids in goat milk, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Animal nutrition is a significant factor how to achieve these changes in the fatty acid profile of milk fat. For these purposes can be used as additives for certain species of algae which are the source of nutritionally valuable lipids with a high content of polyene fatty acids, especially omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The ability to change the composition of goat mikl fat, represents an opportunity for the development of new products. Functional foods, such as milk and dairy products enriched with omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The aim of this work is to determine what effect the addition of selected algae (Chlorella vulgaris and Japanochytrium sp.) On milk production and representation of the components of milk, focusing on the composition of milk fat and fatty acid profile in goat milk. Attention was paid to reduction of saturated and increase the proportion of nutritionally beneficial unsaturated fatty acids, in particular n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.