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Enhancement of biomass production and bio-products extraction from microalgae using non-thermal plasma process toward biofuel production

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Abstract

This study assessed the effect of a 3 min. application of non-thermal plasma (NTP) on the synthesis of biomass concentration, lipid and fatty acid contents, elemental composition and cellulosic material in Scenedesmus species. We also investigated the effects of a longer period (10 min.) exposure of microalgal biomass to NTP prior to lipid extraction. After subjecting Scenedesmus biomass to NTP for 3 min., the biomass concentration increased from 0.35 to 2.02 g L−1 after 10 days of cultivation, while lipid productivity was maximal (20.6 mg L−1 day−1) after 4 days cultivation, containing high percentages of saturated fatty acids, notably palmitic acid (C16:0). Results of elemental analyses (C, N, O, Na, Mg, Si, K, Ca) in Scenedesmus biomass showed that NTP application does not change the content of these elements in microalgal biomass. However, the cellulose content was almost twice as high (29.3%) than in untreated control sample (14.5%), which may be associated with NTP-mediated depolymerization of D-glucose units. After pretreating the microalgal biomass for 10 min. with NTP, the lipid recovery from Scenedesmus sp. varied among treatments: NTP (air + argon: 32.8%) ˃ sonication (26.1%) ˃ NTP (argon: 23.6%) ˃ NTP (air: 16.2%) ˃ control (15.0%). These results suggest that NTP is a promising technology to not only induce lipid synthesis in microalgal cells, but also to enhance the lipid recovery prior to lipid extraction. The lipids can be converted into biodiesel, while the cellulosic material in Scenedesmus biomass treated by NTP can be used to obtain second-generation bioethanol.

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Acknowledgements

AP Matos thanks CNPq/Brazil for junior post-doctoral scholarship, ID grant N° 151086/2020-6. The authors would like to thank Dra. Karina Cesca from the Federal University of Santa Catarina for hel** with the infrared spectroscopy analysis.

Funding

This work was funded by the Instituto Ânima, Capes and CNPq/Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Master’s Program, University of Southern Santa Catarina, Cidade Pedra Branca, Palhoça, SC, 80137-270, Brazil

    Anelise Leal Vieira Cubas & Elisa Helena Siegel Moecke

  2. Environmental and Sanitary Engineering, University of Southern Santa Catarina, Cidade Pedra Branca, Palhoça, SC, 80137-270, Brazil

    Anelise Leal Vieira Cubas, Elisa Helena Siegel Moecke, Leandro de Souza, Amanda Schueng Lima & Ângelo Paggi Matos

  3. Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Campus Trindade, Florianópolis, SC, 88010-970, Brazil

    Gabriela Nayana Pereira

  4. Laboratory of Algae Cultivation, Department of Aquaculture, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Beco dos Coroas s/n, Barra da Lagoa, Florianópolis, SC, 88062-601, Brazil

    Roberto Bianchini Derner

  5. Center of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Av. Admar Gonzaga 1346, Itacorubi, Florianópolis, SC, 88034-001, Brazil

    Ângelo Paggi Matos

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  1. Anelise Leal Vieira Cubas
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  2. Elisa Helena Siegel Moecke
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  4. Amanda Schueng Lima
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  5. Gabriela Nayana Pereira
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  6. Roberto Bianchini Derner
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  7. Ângelo Paggi Matos
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Contributions

ALVC: methodology, resources, supervision. EHSM: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, resources, data analysis. LS: experimental, data analysis, writing—original draft. ASL: experimental, formal analysis. GNP: experimental, data curation. RBD: supervision, resources. APM: data curation, calculations, writing – review and editing.

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Correspondence to Anelise Leal Vieira Cubas.

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Cubas, A.L.V., Moecke, E.H.S., de Souza, L. et al. Enhancement of biomass production and bio-products extraction from microalgae using non-thermal plasma process toward biofuel production. Braz. J. Chem. Eng. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43153-024-00456-w

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