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Highly Wet Chlorella minutissima Biomass for In Situ Biodiesel Production and Residual Biomass Rich in Labile Carbohydrates

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Abstract

This study evaluated the use of biomass of Chlorella minutissima grown in 40-L photobioreactors using a Guillard f/2 biomass at over 80% moisture content as feedstock to produce ethyl esters. The study design investigated the influence of acid catalyst type (HCl or H2SO4) and concentration (0.3 or 0.6 mol L−1), co-solvent to ethanol ratio (1:10 or 1:5 v/v), and acyl acceptor to biomass ratio (25 mL g−1 or 50 mL g−1) on ester yield and conversion. An L8 Taguchi design was used to evaluate the influence of the factors, demonstrating a range of conversion ranging from 37 to 98%. Furthermore, the effects of reaction conditions on the residual biomass were assessed by measuring the concentration of acid-labile carbohydrates, which could be utilized in integrated sugar- and lipid-based algal refineries. It was found that in situ transesterification using HCl can provide easily accessible and fermentable carbohydrates at concentrations of about 32 wt% in residual biomass. In this sense, the findings of this study demonstrate a further step in the integration of microalgae biomass in the development of liquid-fuel biorefineries.

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Funding

The authors are thankful to the São Paulo State Research Foundation (FAPESP, grant no. 16/10636–8) and the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES, finance code 001) for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, Lorena, Brazil

    Guilherme A. Pedro, Felix M. Pereira, Patrícia C. M. Da Rós & Messias Borges Silva

  2. Laboratory of Technological and Environmental Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Institute of Exact and Biological Sciences, Federal University of Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil

    Mateus S. Amaral

  3. Center for Monitoring and Research of the Quality of Fuels, Biofuels, Crude Oil and Derivatives (CEMPEQC), Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University, Araraquara, Brazil

    Danilo Luiz Flumignan

  4. Mato Grosso Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology, Cuiabá Campus, Cuiabá, Brazil

    Danilo Luiz Flumignan

  5. EARTH University, Guácimo, Costa Rica

    Cristiano E. R. Reis

  6. Engineering Faculty of Guaratinguetá, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Guaratinguetá, Brazil

    Messias Borges Silva

Authors
  1. Guilherme A. Pedro
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  2. Mateus S. Amaral
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  3. Felix M. Pereira
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  4. Danilo Luiz Flumignan
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  5. Patrícia C. M. Da Rós
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  6. Cristiano E. R. Reis
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  7. Messias Borges Silva
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Contributions

Guilherme A. Pedro: conceptualization, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, investigation. Mateus S. Amaral: methodology, formal analysis, validation. Felix M. Pereira: formal analysis, validation, writing—original draft. Danilo Luiz Flumignan: methodology, writing—original draft. Patrícia C. M. Da Rós: visualization, resources, writing—review & editing, supervision. Cristiano E. R. Reis: writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, formal analysis, validation. Messias Borges Silva: conceptualization, visualization, resources, supervision, project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrícia C. M. Da Rós.

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Highlights

• In situ transesterification was performed using highly wet algal biomass.

• The process achieved 98.4% conversion to fatty acid ethyl esters.

• The residual biomass contained up to 32 wt% acid-labile carbohydrates.

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Pedro, G.A., Amaral, M.S., Pereira, F.M. et al. Highly Wet Chlorella minutissima Biomass for In Situ Biodiesel Production and Residual Biomass Rich in Labile Carbohydrates. Bioenerg. Res. 15, 154–165 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-021-10295-z

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