Microalgae are gaining more attention for several reasons such as being potential producers of sustainable fuel, for use as health supplements and in skincare. Simris Alg is a Swedish company that produces Omega 3 supplements from a primary producer of these fatty acids - the algal diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, which is a sustainable alternative to Omega 3 derived from fish. Omega 3 fatty acids constitute a small fraction of the total algal biomass, and to increase profitability and utilize all of the biomass, the purpose of this thesis project is to present potential applications for the residual material that is left after oil extraction. A general composition study was made of Simris Alg algal residue material, and results are compared to those found in previous studies of P. tricornutum biomass. An optimization of the fractionation is needed to separate the storage carbohydrate chrysolaminarin and cell wall component glucuronomannan, followed by analysis for confirmation. Also, it would be interesting to separate chitin, if there is any, since despite the presence of chitin synthases, it is unclear whether the diatom actually produces chitin. When gathering information, no actual experimental characterization of carbohydrate active enzymes involved in synthesis of the main carbohydrates investigated were found. Such information would be useful to increase production of the carbohydrate of interest, if valuable applications are found. Potential applications of various cell components, such as carbohydrates, in skincare would be interesting to investigate, as well as optimizing fucoxanthin extraction for use as an additional high value product next to Omega 3.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-292409 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Norell, Isabella |
| Publisher | KTH, Industriell bioteknologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | TRITA-CBH-GRU ; 2020:300 |
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