Progress 12/15/10 to 12/14/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Extensive collaborations have been established among organizations from university, research institute, industry, and local government, during the life time of the project. The group identified that the oil extraction process is one of the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to make algal bio-oil production viable. The study also found that levoglucosan, the major pyrolysis product of lignocellulosic biomass, was as effective as glucose when used as the carbon source for heterotrophic growth of some algal species. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The project increased the awareness of current students in sustainable bio-fuels and helped them develop an interest in pursuing a Science and Engineering degree their future education. The network established between the universities, the research institutes, the tribal government, and the industry will facilitate future collaborations on sustainable bioenergy project.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 12/15/10 to 12/14/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Effective collaborations among participating organizations have been established. The Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences has identified one diatom, Cyclotella cryptica, for bio-oil production. The growth conditions of the diatom and Chlorella protothecoides grown on cellulosic sugars have been optimized in the laboratory of University of Maine for maximum biomass production. An analyzing method had been developed for fast test of the lipid content of algae. The preliminary results showed that the algal oil extracted from C. protothecoides grown on glucose contains up to 816mg neutral lipids per gram of the extracted oil. Selected scalable oil extract methods, including mechanical pressing, freeze and thaw, electroporation, osmotic shock, were tested for effective release of the algal oil. None of those methods could effective break the algal cell wall. The traditional organic solvent extraction method was also studied. The results demonstrated that only limited amount of lipids could be extracted out of the dried algae stock without breaking the algal cell wall. It was identified that the extraction process contributed much to the costs of algal oil production. The collaborations have been expanded to additional partners. Scientists from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory were invited to give presentations on campus. Those presentations were incorporated into a graduate student seminar focused on sustainable biomaterials and bioenergy. Several professors of the University of Pennsylvania and Virginia Tech were invited to discuss the technique, economic, and policy aspects related to the proposed bio-oil production technology. Some PIs of this project were invited by other universities to conduct collaborative research on bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials for sustainable bioenergy production. We also successfully established partnership with the industry. The companies interested in collaborative projects included Solazyme, Inc., FMC Corporation, LP building Products, and Technological Innovations, LLC. A general agreement has been reached among all of the organizations that to use the cellulosic residues from wood products industry as a sugars source for heterotrophic growth of algae was a viable approach for sustainable production of boi-oil, value-added structural building products, and food supplements. We also involved the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine for potential partnership on development of sustainable bioenergy for the tribal community through implanting the heterotrophic growth technology into their existing algal growing facility. We have managed to provide youth education by developing an individual project for the University of Maine's Upward Bond summer programs on campus. One junior high school student was trained on growth of algae on organic carbon sources in our participating laboratories on campus during the summer of 2011. As a result of the extensive collaboration, we have submitted one Letter of Intent to the Biomass Research and Development Initiative and another one to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture during the lifetime of this project. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project has been extended to December 14, 2012. The extension will allow additional data collection and analysis needed for preparing publications. It also allows the established collaboration to explore other funding opportunities on bioenergy production.
Impacts
We are preparing two research papers to publish the results from our studies on the heterotrophic growth of algae on cellulosic sugars and on the bioconversion of lignocellulosics into sugars. The education project of this project helped the student to develop an interest in pursuing a Science and Engineering degree in his future college education. The invited presentations on algal biofuels production increased the awareness of current students in sustainable bioenergy. The established network with the universities, the research institutes, the tribal government, and the companies will facilitate future collaborations on sustainable bioenergy production.
Publications
- Daniel C. Eastwood, Dimitrios Floudas, Manfred Binder, Andrzej Majcherczyk, Patrick Schneider, Andrea Aerts, Fred O. Asiegbu, Scott E. Baker, Kerrie Barry, Mika Bendiksby, Melanie Blumentritt, Pedro M. Coutinho, Dan Cullen, Ronald P. de Vries, Allen Gathman, Barry Goodell, Bernard Henrissat, Katarina Ihrmark, Havard Kauserud, Annegret Kohler, Kurt LaButti, Alla Lapidus, Jose L. Lavin, Yong-Hwan Lee, Erika Lindquist, Walt Lilly, Susan Lucas, Emmanuelle Morin, Claude Murat, Jose A. Oguiza, Jongsun Park, Antonio G. Pisabarro, Robert Riley, Anna Rosling, Asaf Salamov, Olaf Schmidt, Jeremy Schmutz, Inger Skrede, Jan Stenlid, Ad Wiebenga, Xinfeng Xie, Ursula Kues, David S. Hibbett, Dirk Hoffmeister, Nils Hogberg, Francis Martin, Igor V. Grigoriev, Sarah C. Watkinson. 2011. The plant cell wall-decomposing machinery underlies the functional diversity of forest fungi. Science. 333: 762-765.
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