Analysis of an ethanol-producing solar-bioconversion process using the microalga Dunaliella sp. as the biomass crop

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5945669

Von Hippel, D F

A process was investigated whereby glycerol from the halophilic (salt-loving) microalga Dunaliella is converted to ethanol via anaerobic fermentation. In order to equilibrate the osmotic pressure across its cell membrane, Dunaliella produces high concentrations of intracellular glycerol. When the fragile membrane is broken, glycerol is released, and is available as a substrate for ethanol-producing fermentation. Since Dunaliella grow rapidly, can be cultured selectively, and can be grown using land and water unsuited to other agriculture, its use as a future solar-bioconversion crop for fuel production is attractive. Aspects of the growth of Dunaliella in outdoor, paddle wheel-mixed ponds, the fermentation of glycerol and Dunaliella lysates to ethanol, the process engineering and economics of algae-to-ethanol plants, and the physical, economic, and social settings conducive to such plants were explored.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5945669
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090222* -- Alcohol Fuels-- Preparation from Wastes or Biomass-- (1976-1989)
550700 -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ALCOHOLS
ALGAE
ANAEROBIC CONDITIONS
BIOCONVERSION
CELL CONSTITUENTS
CELL MEMBRANES
ETHANOL
FERMENTATION
GLYCEROL
GROWTH
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MEMBRANES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
YIELDS