Microalgae biomass as a sustainable source for biofuel, biochemical and biobased value-added products: An integrated biorefinery concept

Microalgae are known as a rich source of bioactive compounds which exhibit different biological activities. Increased demand for sustainable biomass for production of important bioactive components with various potential especially therapeutic applications has resulted in noticeable interest in algae. Utilisation of microalgae in multiple scopes has been growing in various industries ranging from harnessing renewable energy to exploitation of high-value products. The focuses of this review are on production and the use of value-added components obtained from microalgae with current and potential application in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, energy and agri-food industries, as well as for bioremediation. Moreover, this work discusses the advantage, potential new beneficial strains, applications, limitations, research gaps and future prospect of microalgae in industry.

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/4/943/pdf

Isolation of Industrial Important Bioactive Compounds from Microalgae

Mass cultivation and harvesting of microalgal biomass: Current trends and future perspectives

Mass cultivation and harvesting of microalgal biomass: Current trends and future perspectives.

Biodiesel production from algal biomass is widely considered a sustainable alternative to petroleum fuels, especially in the transportation sector. However, the high energy consumption associated with the harvesting phase poses a significant impediment to the substantial commercialization of algal biodiesel. Centrifugation is among those harvesting methods that have a high efficiency close to 100% but can consume more energy than it produces. This review aims to address possible solutions for the issue of the high energy cost of centrifugation as an efficient harvesting technique. In addition, a detailed overview of the potential types of centrifugation that can be used to harvest microalgae with their pros and cons is provided. The most prevalent centrifugal devices that have been identified to be effectively useful to harvest algal biomass include disc-stack centrifuge, solid-bowl centrifuge, hydrocyclone, tubular centrifuge, and multi-chamber centrifuge. Overall, the analysis showed that centrifugation alone is not suitable for the harvesting of microalgae for biodiesel production. Nevertheless, coupling centrifugation with other harvesting technologies, e.g. with flocculation, as a primary pre-concentration step, can increase the energy output significantly thus, reducing the production cost.

Harvesting of microalgae by centrifugation for biodiesel production: A review

Degradation analysis of a heavy‐duty gas turbine engine under full and part load conditions

This study aims to minimize the energy consumption of the disc-stack centrifuge by optimizing the factors that affect its consumption using response surface methodology. Eight factors with the potential to affect the energy consumption of the centrifuge were identified. A 3k factorial Box-Behnken design was used as the design model to investigate the chosen factors using Minitab software. The result indicates that the main three factors that have the largest impact on the energy consumption of the centrifuge are the particle size, the rotational speed, and the outer radius of the centrifuge, respectively. Moreover, the results demonstrate that the energy consumption of the centrifuge can be reduced from 1 kWh/m3 to 0.1 kWh/m3 achieving a 90% reduction in total. In order to achieve such a low consumption, the outer radius and the rotational speed of the disc-stack centrifuge should be designed to not exceed 0.175 m and 3000 rpm, respectively.

Optimization of mechanical harvesting of microalgae by centrifugation for biofuels production

Degradation analysis of a combined cycle heat recovery steam generator under full and part load conditions

This work investigates the effect of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures on the overall optical performance of gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells. The optical properties of three different TiO2 nanostructures shapes namely, cubic, spherical, and pyramidal are studied to minimize the reflectivity of GaAs substrates. The dimensions of these three nanoparticle-shapes are varied in the simulations, and the effects of this parameter-variation on the reflectance is investigated. The simulation was carried using the wave optics module in COMSOL Multiphysics®. The results indicate that the spherical nanoparticle with a radius of 25 nm gives a reduction of the reflectance down to 9.2 % (compared to the 37.2 % of uncoated GaAs). Furthermore, the pyramidal nanoparticle with both width and length of 50 nm has a nearly similar performance achieving a 9.8 % reflectance. However, the cubic nanoparticles with a width of 100 nm achieved the worst optical performance with a reflectance of 28 %.

Amer Abu-Shamleh

Papers

Harvesting of microalgae by centrifugation for biodiesel production: A review

Degradation analysis of a heavy‐duty gas turbine engine under full and part load conditions

Optimization of mechanical harvesting of microalgae by centrifugation for biofuels production

Degradation analysis of a combined cycle heat recovery steam generator under full and part load conditions

Optimization of antireflective coatings with nanostructured TiO2 for GaAs solar cells