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Screening microalgae strains for their productivity in methane following anaerobic digestion

From National Research Council Canada

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DOIResolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.02.051
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Affiliation
  1. National Research Council of Canada. Energy, Mining and Environment
  2. National Research Council of Canada. Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
FormatText, Article
SubjectAnaerobic digestion; Methane; Microalgae; Biofuel; Bioenergy; Scenedesmus
Abstract
Interest in the use of microalgae for the production of biofuels has grown in recent years. Biomethane is a biofuel that can be obtained with high efficiency from anaerobic digestion of various organic feedstocks. In this study, a selection of freshwater (n = 15) and marine (n = 5) microalgae were tested in order to identify a microalgal strain that could be used as a model for large scale production of methane. Analysis of pH, volatile suspended solids and ammonium at the end of the assay ranged between 6.98–7.66, 16.0–25.9 g/L and 495–1622 mg/L respectively. No significant differences in these values were detected between freshwater and marine strains. There was no significant difference in the methane yield from freshwater microalgae (329 ± 43 mL CH4/g TVS) and marine microalgae (298 ± 83 mL CH4/g TVS) although it varied greatly within the tested strains. A statistical analysis of the microalgae grown under two different culture media showed that the type of medium was more determinant than the type of microalgae (freshwater or marine) for the methane yield, with 310 ± 35, 365 ± 25 and 303 ± 77 mL CH4/g TVS for the freshwater microalgae grown in Bold’s-3NV, f/2 and marine microalgae grown in f/2 media, respectively. The strains Scenedesmus sp.-AMDD, Isochrysis sp. and Scenedesmus dimorphus displayed the best methane yield with 410 ± 6, 408 ± 4 and 397 ± 10 mL CH4/g TVS, respectively. The strain Scenedesmus sp.-AMDD was chosen as a model strain for future work development with continuously fed digesters.
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  • Applied Energy 108 (2 April 2013): 100–107.
LanguageEnglish
Peer reviewedYes
NRC numberNRC-EME-55624
EME-MTL-0006
NPARC number21268955
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Record identifier1f20d484-b155-4fc2-bc2a-2d2cd5e16a54
Record created2013-11-27
Record modified2020-06-04
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