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VALORIZATION OF BIOMASS BIOFUELS DISCARDED FROM THE LIGNOCELLULOSIC WASTE BIOMASS PRE-TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES, ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS AND BIOCONVERSION OF SUGARS INTO BIOFUELS. - Main researcher: Silvia Bolado Rodríguez - PhD students: Rodolfo Travaini and Judit Martín Juárez - In the last decades, the use of new fuel sources has been researched in detail due to the increasing environmental, economical and political problems related to the consumption of fossil fuels and its expected decrease in production. Among these new fuel sources under investigation, the biggest interest is focused on the renewable ones or biofuels, as a result of its disponibility and environmentally friendly nature. Lignocellulosic waste appears as a promising alternative raw material for biofuel production. This waste derives from industrial processes which use agricultural sources and sources from the harvest of conventional crops. They are abundant, they are not expensive and its valorization involves most of the times the mitigation of an environmental problem, since its accumulation often causes pollution due to hydrocarbons derived from its natural degradation. Alcohols such as ethanol or butanol, and biogasm can be produced from lignocellulosic materials. The use of lignocellulosic materials for biofuel production requires three steps most of the times. The first step is the pre-treatment, which is responsible for the opening of the biomass structure and for the detaching of carbohydrates polumers from lignin. The second one is the enzymatic hydrolysis to turn carbohydrates polymeters in monomeric fermentable sugars. Finally, the third step consists on the bioconversion of the hydrolyzes obtained in the target product (alcohols such as ethanol and butanol through alcoholic fermentation, ot methane through anaerobic digestion). - http://envtech.uva.es/pdf/BiofuelsfromLignocellulosicMaterias.pdf VALORIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL EFFLUENTS THROUGH THE USE OF MICROALGAE FOR THE OBTENTION OF BIO PRODUCTS. - Main researchers: Silvia Bolado Rodríguez - PhD student: Judit Martín Juárez and Dimas García - The purpose of this project is to obtain bioproducts from microalgae biomass through recyling sewage nutrients of agricultural processing to improve the economical and environmental sustainability of the process. The project integrates the production and valorization of microalgae under the concept of biorefinery, and determines its economic viability through Life Cycle Analysis (in Spanish, ACV.) In this project, two different strategies regarding biomass use are considered: Firstly, the direct use of biomass as food in aquaculture, or the production of biofertilizers or biogas. Secondly, the processing of biomass in order to obtain different products of industrial interest. Since microalgae biomass consists mostly of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, the products to be obtained are the following: 1) Proteins that will be used for animal nutrition by mixing it with fodder, 2) Alcohols obtained through the pre-treatment and fermentation of algae biomass, 3) oils from lipid fraction that can be used in animal food, 4) biogas obtained through anaerobic digestion of algae residual biomass. In order to close the cycle of biomass production, the CO2 generated by anaerobic digestion of residual microalgae will be recycled to the stage of production of algae biomass, so that the production system will act as a CO2 sink, reducing the emission of greenhouse effect gases. Therefore, this holistic approach will allow bio-products to be obtained from the recycling of nutrients from agricultural sewage while contributing to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. - http://envtech.uva.es/pdf/Resumen%20PurAlga_R.pdf VALORIZATION OF PROTEINS AND LIPIDS OF THE RESIDUAL MICROALGAE GROM THE AGRICULTURAL SEWAGE TREATMENT - Main researchers: Silvia Bolado Rodríguez - PhD student: Ana Lorenzo - This project expects to develop an economical and sustainable process (based on the concept of biorefinery) in order to obtain bioproducts and bioenergy through residual biomass constituted by microalgae and bacteria cultivated with organic matter and nutrients naturally present in agricultural sewages. It also expects to study different options for extraction and purification of two of the main parts of this biomass: proteins and lipids. The processes in the agricultural and food industry generate a big amount of liquid residual currents with a high concentration of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, which confer a high economic potential. A more efficient restoration of these waste waters is carried out by committees of microalgae-bacteria. This process is also able to retain this pollutant compounds and, therefore, allows its later retrieval. Due to the increasing lack of natural resources and the increasing waste generation, the development of these processes is and must be a priority in the context of a European sustainable economy. Among all the possibilities, there is the sequential alternative of the different biomass fractions (proteins, lipids and carbohydrates), where the concept of biorefinery for its complete explotation is applied. A variety of products with an economic interest can be obtained through each of these fractions. - http://envtech.uva.es/pdf/Abstract%20envtech%20web_Ana.pdf USE OF MICROALGAE FOR THE TREATMENT OF POLLUTED MINERALS BY POLLUTED WATER AND HEAVY METALS - Main researchers: Silvia Bolado Rodríguez, Raúl Muñoz - PhD student: Ricardo Saavedra -This research aims to develop a bioremediation system based on the use of microalgae and its usefulness as an alternative to the current treatment process in Loa River basin, located in the region of Antofagasta, Northern Chile. This river is of great importance in the area because it is the only source of surface water in the Atacama Desert. The use of this water has important limitations due to the presence of minerals (such as boron and arsenic) and heavy metals (mainly copper, zinc and manganese) at concentrations classified as hazardous contamination by the World Health Organization (WHO). The source of this pollution is associated both to natural causes (the volcanic and geological characteristics of the terrain make water bodies solubilize metals from various minerals present in the subsoil composition), as well as a product of human activity, mainly associated with the development of industrial mining processes. They involve the generation of solid and liquid wastes, which may diffuse to the underground drainage and from there, to the surface drainage in the region, causing serious environmental issues. In addition, the small amount of natural water sources present in this desert region (no rivers, no rainfall) makes water a critical resource and a very scarce commodity that must be shared by the community, agriculture and industrial activity in the region. Also, the tightening of environmental laws regarding industrial standards, and the growing social interest concerning pollution makes today the treatment and management of these wastes an area of great interest and importance, and searching for new and better alternatives to conventional treatment methods with higher efficiencies, lower costs and a more environmentally friendly become necessary. In response, bioremediation technique has gained attention in recent years and emerged as an alternative to compete with conventional treatment processes. The use of microalgae has focused a special attention because of their wide availability and the fact that numerous species of microalgae have been reported to be able of eliminate pollutants found in their environment through several mechanisms. These elimination processes can be carried out in two ways: biosorption, where the pollutant is just retained on the outer surface of the cell wall thanks to its physicochemical properties, and bioaccumulation, an active process in which microalgal cells capture free ions of contaminants, holding them inside the cell. - http://envtech.uva.es/pdf/Abstract_ricardo_web.pdf

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