title: Haloalkaline Bioconversions for Methane Production from Microalgae Grown on Sunlight.
abstract: Microalgal biomass can be converted to biofuels to replace nonsustainable fossil fuels, but the widespread use of microalgal biofuels remains hampered by the high energetic and monetary costs related to carbon dioxide supply and downstream processing. Growing microalgae in mixed culture biofilms reduces energy demands for mixing, maintaining axenic conditions, and biomass concentration. Furthermore, maintaining a high pH improves carbon dioxide absorption rates and inorganic carbon solubility, thus overcoming the carbon limitation and increasing the volumetric productivity of the microalgal biomass. Digesting the microalgal biomass anaerobically at high pH results in biogas that is enriched in methane, while the dissolved carbon dioxide is recycled to the phototrophic reactor. All of the required haloalkaline conversions are known in nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University, Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Matthijs R J
authors.initials: MRJ
authors.lastname: Daelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University, Delft, The Netherlands; Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Research Center of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Dimitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sorokin
authors.affiliation: Bielefeld University, Faculty of Biology, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Universitätsstraße 27, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Delft University, Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mark C M
authors.initials: MCM
authors.lastname: van Loosdrecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada. Electronic address: mstrous@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strous
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism; D056804:Biofuels / Q000382:microbiology*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D006219:Halogens / Q000378:metabolism; D008697:Methane / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D058433:Photobioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D013472:Sunlight
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D056804:Biofuels; D006219:Halogens; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D008697:Methane
keywords: anaerobic digestion; biofuels; haloalkaline conditions; microalgae