INVESTIGADORES
DIAZ Maria Soledad
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Integrated MicroalgaeBased Biorefinery for Astaxanthin Production
Autor/es:
GARCIA PRIETO, C.; FERNANDO D. RAMOS; VANINA ESTRADA; MARCELO A. VILLAR; M. SOLEDAD DIAZ
Lugar:
Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Conferencia; 2nd RCN Conference on Pan American Biofuels & Bioenergy Sustainability; 2016
Resumen:
In this work, we address the optimization of an integrated microalgaebasedbiorefinery through the formulation of a nonlinear programming (NLP) model for theproduction of the natural ketocaroteinoid astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant withapplication in nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food industries andcoproducts.Biodiesel from microalgae and biogas from waste streams are considered toreduce the dependency of external energy sources. Biodiesel is produced from oiltransesterification, producing glycerol as a byproduct.Glycerol is mostly used forpharmaceutical products, food and cosmetics but be also used as raw material for higheradded value products as polyhydroxibutirates (PHB). PHB is a biopolymer produced bymicroorganisms and it constitutes an alternative to fossil fuel based polymers as it hassimilar properties. In this work, PHBis used for packaging proposes. A combined heatand power cycle to transform biogas generated by the anaerobic digestion of wastestreams(algal cake, waste paper, glycerol, sludge and cell residual material from PHBextraction) is also included. Anaerobic digestion model accounts for detailed compositionof the different feed streams. Detailed cost models are formulated for process equipment.The proposed model is implemented in GAMS to maximize net present value andminimize energy consumption. Numerical results provide useful insights on integratedbiorefineries that use carbon dioxide as carbon source, as well as quantitative informationon green processes.