International Congress and Expo on Biofuels & Bioenergy August 25-27, 2015 Valencia, Spain

David Bolonio is in his second year of the PhD. He studied Mining Engineer and the Master in Environmental Research, Modeling and Risk Assessment in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He has done a research stay at the Faculty of Chemistry in the University of Graz, has attended four conferences presenting his research works and has three papers in high impact journals.

Biodiesel is currently produced from a catalytic transesterification reaction of various types of edible and non edible oil with methanol. The use of waste animal tallow instead of edible oils opens a route to recycle this waste. This material has the advantage of lower costs but the problem of high content of free fatty acids, becoming necessary a pre-esterification reaction that increases the cost of the catalytic process. The production of biodiesel using supercritical alcohols is appropriate for materials with high acidity and water content, therefore the use of this process with animal fat is a promising alternative. Ethanol has been used because it can be produced from biomass via fermentation resulting in a complete renewable biodiesel, instead of methanol that derives from fossil feedstocks. Two different processes have been studied: first, the direct transesterification of animal fat using supercritical ethanol and second a two-step process where the first step is a hydrolysis of the animal fat and the second step is the esterification of the resulting fatty acids. The temperature, the molar ratio ethanol:fat and the time have been modified in the different reactions to study the effect in the final conversion and the degradation of the unsaturated fatty acid esters, main inconvenient of these high temperature and pressure processes.

Miscanthus is a genus perennial giant grasses with great potential for biomass production, which can be used as a renewable feedstock for bioenergy or bioethanol. Biotechnological methods, including in vitro cultures and plant transformation can substantially complement projects aimed to improve miscanthus biomass yield or quality. Several genotypes of M. sinensis (lines MS1, MS16 and MS17), M. x giganteus (line D-116 and MG3) and M. sacchariflorus ('Robustus') were subjects of studies on plant regeneration. Among young spikelets, spike axles, inflorescence receptacles and nodes, the first appeared appropriate initial explants for all genotypes. Callus was induced 2-3 weeks on MS medium with 5.0 mg/l 2,4-D and 0.5 mg/l BAP, while plants were regenerated within 2 months on MS medium + 2.0 mg/l BAP. The efficiency of obtaining callus and plants depended on the genotype and the highest regeneration rate was noted for M. sinensis line 17 and M. x giganteus D-116, where 659.0 and 517.9 calluses and 2454.4 and 1811.9 plants per 100 explants were obtained, respectively, but only 192.0 calluses and 78.4 plants for M. sacchariflorus. Callus induction and plant regeneration were approx. 1.3 and 2.0 times improved by using respectively, C17 medium with 5.0 mg/l 2,4-D and 0.5 mg/l BAP and 190-2 medium with NAA and KIN, each 0.5 mg/l. Developed regeneration procedure was partially adopted for Agrobacterium-mediated miscanthus transformation trials. All used Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains carried pCAMBIA1201 vector with T-DNA containing hygromycin phosphotransferase marker gene (hpt) and GUS reporter gene, both under control of 35S RNA CaMV promoter. Embryogenic 10-week-old calli (50 per variant) were inoculated with Agrobacterium hypervirulent strains: EHA105, AgL0 and AgL1. Callus was induced on MS medium with L-proline (0.5 mg/l), L-glutamine (0.5 mg/l), casein (1 mg/l) and 2,4-D (2 mg/l) but plants were regenerated as described above. All media were supplemented with 2.5 mg/l of hygromycin as a selection agent. Finally 12 putative transgenic plants, 5 for MS17 and 7 for MG, were obtained, then micropropagated up to 5 clones, rooted and transferred to soil. Probable T-DNA genomic integration was confirmed by PCR in all clones for 5 transformants, hence the transformation efficiency was about 1 to 2%. Further plant analyses as assay of GUS or hpt activity, etc. are in progress.

Pablo A. Silva Ortiz has a BS in Energy Engineering from the Universidad Autonóma de Bucaramanga-UNAB (2006) in Colombia. He also has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Itajubá-UNIFEI (2011) in Brazil. Currently, he is a pursuing PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the Universidade de São Paulo-USP in Brazil. He is working on the research project entitled "Exergy and environmental ranking of bioethanol production routes".

Future biomass conversion systems have to be developed using advanced conversion routes in order to compete with fossil fuels. An attractive biomass feedstock for bioethanol production is lignocellulosic biomass, particularly various agricultural and forest residues, such as sugarcane bagasse, which are available in large amounts. Lignocellulosic biomass can be converted into bioethanol using biochemical route, including pretreatment processes followed by hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose into sugars and their subsequent fermentation. On the other hand, the thermochemical route can also be applied to bioethanol production, in which biomass gasification represents a pathway for the production of variety of biofuels, including ethanol, methanol, dimethyl ether, Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) fuels, hydrogen and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG). However, although biochemical or thermochemical routes are promising technological options due to their large-scale production of lignocellulosic ethanol, they are still to be further developed to achieve commercial outcomes.In this work, a detailed exergy analysis of the biochemical and thermochemical conversion routes for bioethanol production from sugarcane bagasse is presented. In addition, a performance comparison in terms of exergy efficiency and destroyed exergy rate of each stage involved in these routes is determined. Hence, in an effort to compare these technological routes, the simulation processes were performed using Aspen Plus® software to a plant with 500 t/h milling capacity.

Ana Maria Zetty Arenas has a BS. in Agroindustrial Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia-UNAL (2008) in Colombia. She also has an MSc. in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade de São Paulo-USP (2012) in Brazil. Currently, she is a pursuing PhD. in Bioenergy at the Universidade de São Paulo-USP, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-Unicamp and Universidade Estadual Paulista-Unesp, in Brazil. She is working on the research project entitled “Efficient bioconversion of lignocellulosic-derived sugars from sugarcane bagasse into n-butanol”.

Nowadays, the production of fuels and petrochemical compounds from renewable sources, environmentally friendly and with high yield and productivity is one of the biggest challenges of the biotechnology industry. Among these petrochemical compounds, n-butanol stands out as an important industrial chemical because of its great potential to be used as an alternative fuel. It can be produced either from petroleum derivatives, as well as naturally (biobutanol) by anaerobic fermentation using solventogenic clostridia resulting in a mixture of acetone, butanol and ethanol (known as ABE fermentation). Hence, biobutanol has a number of significant advantages over existing biofuels. It is considered a highest value biofuel due to its energy content (29.2 MJ/L) and similarity properties with gasoline, which could require less changes in engines. It is worth noting that the fermentation of toxic lignocellulosic hydrolyzates has become a challenging research topic in recent decades. Bioconversion of lignocellulose by microbial fermentation is typically preceded by an acidic thermochemical pretreatment step designed to facilitate hydrolysis of cellulose. Substances formed during the pretreatment of the lignocellulosic feedstock have a serious inhibitory effect in subsequent fermentation steps. The overall goal of this project is to develop an efficient process to convert lignocellulosic sugars (from sugarcane bagasse) into n-butanol via the ABE fermentation process. The research will investigate to which extent the novel extractive fermentation - an advanced fermentation technology with integrated product recovery by means of vacuum - is more robust against inhibitory compounds formed during biomass pretreatment and the effects of the choice for the advanced technology on the design process of the pretreatment and conditioning steps.

With the over-consumption of fossil fuel reserves and their impact on climate changes, the search for renewable and clean biofuels is becoming necessary. Biodiesel is considered nowadays as one of the most promising alternative for replacing petroleum diesel. For biodiesel production, microalgae have received a particular attention due to their photosynthetic efficiency, high cellular lipid content, CO2 fixation and growth on non-arable lands unsuitable for food crops. However, the main drawbacks of microalgae-based biodiesel process are the biomass drying step responsible of high energy consumption and the difficult lipid recovery from the thick algal cell walls. In this work, biodiesel was produced by a single-step catalyst-free process using direct or in situ supercritical methanol transesterification from wet unwashed green microlgae (Nannochloropsis gaditana, Chlorella sp. and Nannochloris sp.). The main process parameters were first optimized for Nannochloropsis gaditana (Lubián CCMP 527) by studying the effect of methanol to microalgae ratio (6:1-12:1 vol./wt.), reaction time (10-50 min) and temperature (245-290°C). A maximum biodiesel yield of ~46 wt% was reached for a methanol to microalgae ratio of 10:1 (vol./wt), reaction time of 50 min and temperature of 265°C. These optimized parameters were then applied for newly isolated species of Chlorella sp. and Nannochloris sp., issued from the south-western Mediterranean Sea, and maximum biodiesel yields of 45.62% and 21.79% were achieved, respectively. Additionally, the effect of the supercritical process on the algal cell wall structure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy observations.

Biotechnological methods based on genetic engineering and plant transformation are essential complement of research on biomass production of miscanthus and other energy plants. Hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt) is one of commonly used marker genes used for such manipulations. Preliminary tests showed that hygromycin B is an appropriate selection factor for miscanthus species (Miscanthus x giganteus, M. sinensis, M. sacchariflorus). A vector with optimised hpt coding sequence can be a promising tool for transformation. In order to increase its expression and consequently improve efficiency of miscanthus transformation, the coding sequence of bacterial hpt gene (Streptomyces hygroscopicus) was optimised basing on codon usage specific for maize (Zea mays, Codon Usage Database, www. cazusa.or.jp). Optimised hpt coding sequence (Ohpt) was introduced into pCAMBIA 1201 vector to replace original hpt gene and achieve pCAOhpt. Both vectors were used for transformation of tobacco (Nicotina tabacum) as a model plant. Regenerating explants were cultured on selection media containing 10, 20 and 50 mg/L of hygromycin (hyg). After transformation with pCAOhpt, plants regenerated on media with hyg 10 and 20 mg/L amounted 142% and 130%, respectively, in comparison to those obtained for pCAMBIA. In the case of hyg 50 mg/L, only pCAOhpt gave positive results (4 plants regenerated). The Ohpt sequence was detected using PCR in 50%, 83% and 100% of plants for hyg 10, 20 and 50 mg/L, respectively, while hpt sequence was present in 62.5% and 66% of obtained plants, for hyg 10 and 20 mg/L, respectively. Thus, it is estimated that the Ohpt sequence increases transformation efficiency by approx. 35% and decreases risk of false positive transgenic plants (escapes). Further analyses confirming functionality of t, as RT-PCR and assay of enzymatic activity of hygromycin phosphotransferase are in progress. However Ohpt sequence has been already used for contruction of vector pCAHGA, containing Ohpt sequence under control of ubiquitin1 promoter (form maize) and GUS reporter gene under control of actin1 promoter (rice) for development of miscanthus transformation method.

Kiyoshi Sakuragi was born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1986. He received his B.E. and M.Tech. degrees in Forest Chemistry from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2009 and 2011, respectively, and he is a doctoral student at the University of Tokyo, Japan, from 2015. In 2011, he joined Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry as a research associate. His current research interests include biomass utilization in bio-oil production, carbonization, and enzymatic saccharification.

An energy-efficient and low-cost process for recovering oil from microalgae is needed for the production of algal biofuels. Here, CRIEPI and JX investigate a novel hybrid oil recovery method using dimethyl ether (DME) and hexane (DH method) from algae. Moreover, to evaluate the energy consumption of the DH method, CRIEPI and JX made a conceptual design of a practical plant using DH method. In the DH method, wet Euglena gracilis cells were placed into a vessel, mixed with liquefied DME, and shaken at room temperature (20°C). After 5 min of shaking, wet E. gracilis cells were mixed with hexane and shaken at 20°C for 5 min. After evaporating DME, the hexane layer was separated from the water layer. Approximately 80% of the total oil was recovered in the hexane layer when the DME:hexane:wet algae ratio was 12:4:1. Based on the lab-scale experiments, the total operational energy of this DH method was estimated to be about 27.1 MJ per kg oil. Compared with the conventional oil extraction process from dry algae, this process offers significant advantages for oil recovery. However, approximately 76% of the total energy was consumed by the compressor during DME condensation. Therefore, the reduction of the DME consumption is key technology for successful operation of the DH method.

With the exhaustion of fossil fuels and the alarming environmental deterioration, the search for renewable and clean energies is becoming necessary for the global energy demand. Currently, biodiesel has attracted public attention as one of the best renewable, sustainable and environmental friendly energy for replacing petroleum diesel. Traditionally, biodiesel is produced from first generation edible oils (rapeseed, soybean, palm, etc.) and second generation non-edible oils (animal fats, used vegetable oils, jatropha and karanja oils, etc.). However, the major bottlenecks of these conventional feedstocks are their high price and unsustainable supply. Among third generation biofuel feedstocks, microalgae-based biodiesel has been suggested as one of the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels because of the overall potential advantages of microalgae: (1) comparing with terrestrial oilseed crops, microalgae present higher biomass productivity, faster growth rate and higher lipid accumulation levels; (2) microalgae can grow successfully on degraded land unsuitable for food production in open ponds and photobioreactors; (3) microalgae have environmental benefits due to their photosynthetic activity, such as mitigation of CO2 and bioremediation of wastewater.In the present study, the direct supercritical methanol transesterification of lyophilized unwashed marine microalgae Nannochloropsis gaditana Lubián CCMP 527, cultivated in outdoor open raceways, was carried out. The process was conducted in only one step and without the use of catalysts. These microalgae, which have a lipid content of 22 wt% on dry and ash free basis, were directly used after cultivation, centrifugation and lyophilization, and any washing step was performed to remove residual salts. Experiments were conducted with 4 g of lyophilized powder (3.2 g of dry algal biomass) in a batch shaken tank reactor (a stainless steel cylindrical autoclave of 83 ml capacity) to investigate the influence of reaction temperature (245, 255, 265 and 275 ºC) and reaction time (10, 20, 35 and 50 min) on the yield of biodiesel (FAME yield) at a methanol to dry algae ratio of 10:1 (vol./wt.) (optimal ratio, internal communication). The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) was performed according to the pressures reached inside the reactor at 245, 255, 265 and 275 ºC were 9, 11, 13 and 15 MPa, respectively. Resuts showed that the FAME yield increased continuously with the reaction time for practically all the temperatures tested. The only exception to this behavior was evidenced at 275 ºC, temperature at which the FAME yield increased up to 35 min reaction time and then decreased slightly for a longer reaction time (50 min) (see Figure 1). Likewise, the FAME yield increased gradually with the temperature for all the reaction times used, the only exception being at 50 min. At this reaction time, the maximum FAME yield was reached at 255 ºC and the yield gradually decreased at higher temperatures. The decrease observed in yield for long reaction times and temperatures higher than 255 ºC was probably due to the thermal degradation of the unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters generated. Accordingly, the maximum FAME yield (47.8 wt%) was reached at 255ºC after 50 min reaction time

Agata Pistis is a chemical engineer, she has matured an experience working in a R&D unit of the unique carbon mine in Italy, where her activities were focused on studying of the thermochemical treatment process and desulphurization of coal. These activities were concluded with obtainment of an European patent. Currently, she is working in a Technology Park of Sardinia in a Biofuels and Biomass laboratory. She coordinates the start-up activities of a pilot plant scale reactor of the fast catalytic pyrolysis and fluidized-bed pilot gasifier. Moreover she carries out experiments on a pilot scale anaerobic digester.

In EU-28 more than 14,000 anaerobic digesters are operating in 2014, providing about 13.5 Mtoe of energy needs. In Italy in 2013 the biogas production has reached 1815,4 ktoe, while in Sardinia the biogas production is equal to the 4,5 % of the primary energy source, as highlighted in the last GSE Company report of the 2014. At present, the most common raw materials fed to the biogas plants are the energy crops (mainly triticosecale, maize silage) mixed with animal manure and sometimes with agro-industrial residues. However, the energy crops production requires an intensive use of land and occupies the soil potentially dedicated to the food crops. The use of the agro-industrial residues as a main feedstock for the anaerobic digestion plants can have a positive return on the process economy. It is also important to consider the environmental impact of the gases emitted during the biogas combustion. Thus, it is crucial to determine the composition of such gases. In this work, the Chemical Equilibrium/Applications program (CEA-NASA), treating one set of experimental data, collected by operating with an anaerobic digestion pilot plant, fed only with agro-industrial residues, was applied. Secondly, an experiment focused on the energy crops replacing with olives and sheep milk processing residues, was carried out. An energy crops replacement ratio of the 70% was reached. Moreover, the thermodynamic combustion equilibrium equations for the biogas produced by the different feedstock was derived. Finally the smoke composition and the conversion factor with several fuel-oxidant ratios were studied and discussed.

Claudio Tugulu is a M.Sc. graduated in Mechanical Engineering and research fellow at Università degli Studi di Cagliari (Sardegna - Italy) with experience in modeling the gasification processes trough thermodynamic analysis of high temperature chemical equilibrium and skills in running experimental test with biofuels and biomass reactions. His research is focused on pyrolysis and gasification of biomass. He also collaborates with the Technology Park of Sardinia, performing experiments on catalytic pyrolysis pilot plant and fluidized-bed pilot gasifier.

Being an island, Sardinia shares with the mainland the problem of the cost and energy supply at a larger extent. One the most significant kinds of biomass exploitation is related to the thermochemical processes such as gasification because of emissions reduction (GHG gases). The gasification is one of the most promising technologies for the conversion of biomass in a gaseous fuel even if the Sardinian forests coverage is lower than the national mean value. In this work we have used the theory of thermochemical mass balance at high temperature to simulate the gasification process of an arboreal species typical of north of Sardinia: the "Pinus Pinaster" better known as Maritime Pine. Starting from chemical characterization by proximate and ultimate analysis the percentages by weight of C, H, N, S and O were determined, from which it was possible to generate the Pine's empirical formula. Furthermore, the thermogravimetric analysis has allowed to evaluate the percentages of ash, fixed carbon and volatile compounds. The Chemical Equilibrium with Applications program ( free share CEA), developed by NASA predicts the fuel gas composition and the effect of the equivalence ratio and moisture on the calorific value and content of char, pollutant and humidity. The simulation identifies the best run conditions for the gasification of maritime pine. This work provides a simple approach useful in the gasification design in order to limit the experimental tests. The fuel gas could then feed the heat and power combined plant technology with advantages in land options for power supply.

Concerns about energy security and independence, environmental pollution and climate changes are promoting the development of sustainable and renewable biofuels. The most popular alternative to fossil energy sources today is biodiesel from agricultural crops, mainly corn. However, this alternative may cause a reduction in the world's food sources. Microalgae are considered to be very promising for biofuel production, since they do not compete with plants for agricultural areas and can be cultivated in existing reservoirs of wastewater treatment stations. Microalgae exhibit high metabolic and biochemical flexibility, including lipid, carbohydrate and protein accumulation, which can be regulated by varying the cultivation conditions at high growth rates. A traditional scheme for biodiesel production includes two separate stages – extraction of triglycerides of fatty acids from the biomass and a trans-esterification reaction for conversion of the triglycerides into monoesters which comprising biodiesel.The aim of the study is development of biodiesel production from microalgae grown in wastewater by in situ transesterification of triglycerides.

Dilek Selvi Gökkaya, received her M.Sc in 2009 from Ege University (Turkey), worked on hydrothermal gasification of biomass. She is finishing now her PhD in the Ege University, in which has been working on the investigation of the hemicellulose in the structure of plant biomass and extractive materials behaviour by using of model compounds in supercritical water gasification.

Hydrogen has been identified as the most attractive and developing renewable energy carrier in the world. Researchers are developing a wide range of technologies to produce hydrogen economically from a variety of resources without having a negative effect on the environment. In these resources, biomass being CO2 neutral and a readily available source of energy is considered to be renewable. For these and other reasons, hydrogen production from lignocellulosic biomasses (waste and residue of plant biomass) instead of conventional production is of great importance. Several processes have been explored to produce hydrogen from the lignocellulosic biomasses. In the last two decades, a novel gasification technology called supercritical water gasification (SCWG) has been developed, in which water having a pressure of over 22.1 MPa and a temperature of over 374°C (i.e. supercritical conditions) is used as the gasifying agent. Since cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, and extractive substances show different attitudes in hydrothermal gasification, significant varieties are observed in the gasification yields and product distributions. From this point, in this study, arabinose, as model compounds for the hemicellulose, was studied. Hydrothermal gasification of arabinose could be helpful to understand the influence of biomass components so as to produce a maximum amount of hydrogen from biomass. Gasification of arabinose was carried out in supercritical water at a temperature range 300 to 600°C. Experiments were performed in the absence and presence of KOH with a reaction time of 1h. The yields of gas, liquid, and solid products were identified with the analyses using gas chromatography (GC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), total organic carbon analyzer (TOC), and solid sample module (SSM). The major gaseous produced were hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and C2-C4 hydrocarbons. The aqueous products composed of carboxylic acids, furfurals, phenols aldehydes, ketones and their alkylated derivatives. Carbon gasification efficiencies were improved by increasing temperature and using catalyst and reached maximum value at 600°C.

Dr. Shuhei Noda is currently serving as Special Postdoctoral Researcher, RIKEN, Japan. He received his PhD from Kobe University in 2013. His current research focused on metabolic engineering of E. coli and non-conventional yeast for chemicals and fuels production.

Recently, chemicals and fuel production from renewable resources, such as biomass resources, have attracted attention due to global warming and limited amounts of fossil fuels. The aromatic compounds include a huge number of industrially important materials, and production of them using microorganisms is an active research area, as well as production of biofuel and other building-block compounds. In the present study, we focused on chorismate derivatives, such as salicylate, p-hydroxbenzoate, and p-aminobenzoate, production using genetically engineered Escherichia coli. Increasing intracellular accumulation of phosphoenol pyruvate obtained high productivity of the aromatic compounds by combining several strategies.

In an attempt to develop a high throughput screening system for screening microorganisms which produce high amounts of malate, a MalKZ chimeric HK-based biosensor was constructed. Considering sequence the similarity among Escherichia coli MalK with Bacillus subtilis MalK and E. coli DcuS, the putative sensor domain of MalK was fused with the catalytic domain of EnvZ. The chimeric MalK/EnvZ (MalKZ) TCS induced the ompC promoter through the cognate response regulator, OmpR, in response to extracellular malate. Real-time quantitative PCR and GFP fluorescence studies showed increased ompC gene expression and GFP fluorescence as malate concentration increased. By using this strategy, various chimeric TCS based bacteria biosensors can be constructed, which may be used for the development of biochemical-producing recombinant microorganisms

Young-Lok Cha is a doctorate at the University of Hannover, Germany. He is working as a senior researcher at the National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, KOREA and his major is the development of lignocellulosic biomass conversion technology and biofuels production at pilot scale.

Sweet sorghum is one of the promising energy crop that can provide both sugar juice and bagasse to conversion for bioethanol. Ethanol from the extracted sweet sorghum juice can be easily produced by fermentation process. But the lignocellulosic biomass such as sweet sorghum bagasse has many barriers for ethanol production. For commercial production of bioethanol, effective pretreatments of lignocellulosic materials need to be developed for the reduction of processing costs. In this study, continuous pretreatment system with single screw reactor was applied for the effective hydrolysis of sweet sorghum bagasse. Conditions of hydrolysis were different concentrations of sodium hydroxide (0.2~1.0 M) at 140℃, 1.2 kg/min of biomass loading rate and 7.2L/h of aqueous sodium hydroxide. In case of 0.4 M sodium hydroxide for pretreatment of sweet sorghum bagasse, solid phase was recovered 49.9% from dry matter sweet sorghum bagasse and its compositions were 59.2% of cellulose, 31.7% of hemicellulose, 6.9% of lignin and 0.9% of ash. Saccharifications of pretreated bagasse were performed with different concentrations of enzyme (between 5 and 15 FPU/g-cellulose from Novozymes) in 72 h, 150 rpm at 50℃. The optimum enzyme loading was 10 FPU/g-cellulose and at this optimum condition the maximum yield of glucose conversion was 88.0% after 72 h. It was produced 25.1 g/L ethanol from pretreated sweet sorghum bagasse (60 g/L glucan) and maximum ethanol yield was 91% by saccharomyces cerevisiae CHY1011.

Ms. Lina is a Biologist and Master in Sciences-Biology with emphasis in Ecology. Throughout her career she has been devoted to the study of the physiology, ecology and taxonomy of microalgae and my major area of research have been in microalgae biotechnology. Currently she is a PhD student at the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland. Her research project is focused on anaerobic digestion of microalgae for gas production and nutrient recycling.

During the recent decades the world has been looking at renewable fuels as result of greenhouse gas pollution and the depletion of traditional fossil fuels. The demand for renewable energies has driven the efforts of scientists around the world to find a sustainable source of energy which eventually can replace traditional fuels. Anaerobic digestion is becoming an efficient system not just for treatment of wastes but for the generation of renewable energy through biogas production. Microalgae have shown to be a suitable substrate for such purpose. Besides gas production, anaerobic digestion of microalgae generates a digestate rich in nutrients that can be used as nutrients supply for microalgae cultures, resulting in a sustainable closed loop for biogas production. In this project, we evaluated the digestibility and biogas production potential of microalgae as well as the nutrient recovery of the process. The results show that microalgae are an efficient substrate for anaerobic digestion since they produce a high yield of bio-methane (220 L methane/kg dry biomass) compared to other crops/crops residues used for biogas production. Nitrogen recovery was highly efficient and nitrogen conversion to ammonium occurred. Although phosphorous recovery still requires optimization, as some of it becomes immobilized, preliminary experiments of algae growth on liquid digestate show its potential as culture medium. Current research is underway to recover the remaining immobilized nutrients (precipitates and organic solids) by applying pH changes and in-pond aerobic digestion.

Sirpa Laitinen, PhD and Docent has 20 years of experience in investigating exposure to biological and chemical agents that cause adverse health effects in different occupational and indoor air environments. Exposure evaluations have been tailored to the company's needs, and have given her a clear picture of the companies’ work environments, workplaces and problems. She has been a senior researcher in many large studies and has published over 40 international peer-reviewed publications. The last biomass studies are supported by the Finnish Work Environment Fund and the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation in the Sustainable Bioenergy Solutions for Tomorrow research program.

Most biomasses include a multitude of different microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. During the biodegradation of organic matter, many microorganisms are capable of converting a wide range of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur sources of biomass into chemical compounds such as gases via fermentation and anaerobic decomposition. These biological and chemical agents may spread to the air during biomass processing in open sites. Our occupational measurements at different biomass processing plants have revealed very high levels of worker exposure to dangerous substances; levels which are over the health-based recommended limits. Multiple biological and chemical exposure may increase worker health effects such as acute toxic effects, respiratory symptoms and diseases, infections, and allergies. In order to prevent health hazards among workers, all valuable preventive working techniques and tools should be taken into use to keep occupational exposure as low as possible. These factors should be taken into account before work is begun. Workers may be exposed to hazardous substances through inhalation, direct contact with skin or eyes, or via the mouth. Some microorganisms can survive on surfaces for extended periods of time. Therefore, regular cleaning is also important to inhibit the spreading of microorganisms. Surfaces must be designed to be easily cleaned and workers must have opportunities to wash and take care of personal hygiene. Workers’ exposure should primarily be diminished through technical solutions: protective clothing and respiratory equipment should be secondary alternatives.

Dr. Hasan Merdun is currently serving as a faculty member at the Department of Environmental Engineering, Akdeniz University in Turkey. He got his undergraduate degree on Agricultural Engineering in Turkey. He got his MSc degree at Agricultural Engineering Department and PhD degree at Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences in Clemson University, USA, on the subjects of soil and water resources. After getting his PhD degree, he started working at the university as an academician. Around five years ago, he shifted his research interests from soil and water resources to bioenergy production through thermochemical processes / technologies, specifically fast pyrolysis and gasification. He worked with the Catalytic Processes and Materials Group as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Twente, Netherlands, during June 4 - September 20, 2013. He studied the effects of different catalysts on the yield and quality of bio-oil and gas mixture produced by fast pyrolysis process. He has a specially designed drop-tube reactor for fast pyrolysis and is currently working on two projects. His research mission is to add value to the national and global bioenergy sector by applying an integrated biorefinery approach for the development of renewable energy technologies.

Energy is an important input for industrial applications and social and economical development. Energy obtained from fossil fuels are expected to finish soon and it is a problem for the environment. Renewable energy sources are critical to get rid of these deficiencies of fossil fuels. Renewable sources are solar, wind, hydro, and biomass. Biomass is available everywhere, its conversion technology is variable and developing fast, it is environmental friendly. Therefore, all over the world most people are focusing on the biomass energy. Biomass is defined as all biological materials from plants and animals. Elementally, it is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, trace amounts of nitrogen, and almost no sulfur. Biomass is composed of up to 400 chemical components such as acids, alcohols, esters, sugars, ketons, phenolics, etc. Five main components of biomass are cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives, and ash. Biomass decomposition of these components depends on the biomass properties like moisture and contents, volatile organic matter content, and particle size; and (fast) pyrolysis process parameters like reactor type, temperature, heating rate, residence time, and carrier gas flow rate. Fast pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition of organic materials in the absence of oxygen under the atmosferic pressure, around 500oC, very fast heating rate, and short residence time with fast cooling of pyrolysis vapor in order to directly produce mainly liquid fuel (bio-oil) in addition to solid (biochar) and gas mixtures. Pyrolysis oil or bio-oil appearance is dark brown and similiar to biomass in elemental composition. As a result, bio-oil has unsuitable properties for internal combustion engines, such as high water and ogygen contents, high viscosity, corrosiveness, and instability, preventing its widespread application (Bridgwater, 1999). Since the direct applications of bio-oil as fuels are limited by the problems mentioned above, it should be upgraded before using it in engines. Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the bio-oil upgrading techniques and compare their performances in upgrading. Two commonly applied upgrading techniques are hydrodeoxygenation and catalytic cracking. The types of ctalysts used in these upgrading techniques are also mentioned in deatil. Also,the current problems are summarized and several future development directions of bio-oil upgrading are pointed out.

Passerine, Bianca F. G. graduate student of Environmental Chemistry at the State University of São Paulo “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, where works at the Sucrochemistry and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory on the bioenergy field.

In an attempt to optimize the production of biodiesel by basic heterogenic catalysts, anionic clays of hydrotalcite type have been prepared by co-precipitation method, with fixed molar ratio M + 2 / M + 3 (3: 1) doped with tungsten in two different oxidation states W (IV) and W (VI), with the percentage of 1 to 5% to improve its catalytic effect in the transesterification reaction of ethyl biodiesel. The reaction was maintained for 12 hours / 120 ° C in a molar ratio of oil / ethane 1:20 to 20% (w / w) of catalyst in relation to the oil. The characterization of oxides and hydrotalcites occurred by thermogravimetric analysis (TG - isotherm for 90 ° C, heating ramp from 100 to 450 ° C and 15 ° C / min, N2 flow 20ml / min) and analysis of specific surface area by the BET method, diffraction X-rays (DRX - CuK radiation (λ = 1.54 Å) in an angular range of 3 to 70, 2ɵ per minute) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR - the region of 400 to 4000 cm-1) and its activity catalytic was quantified by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The maximum conversion achieved was 84.23%. Analyzing the FTIR spectra, the diffraction patterns of X - ray and thermal analysis were obtained characteristic properties of pure hydrotalcite, featuring absence of secondary phase in hydroxides.

Javid Hussain is currently PhD Research Scholar, at Bioenergy Lab, institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. He received Masters degree in Chemistry from Institute of chemical sciences, University of Peshawar, Pakistan. After completed master then he received three offers for the PhD studies at the same year from three countries, Australia, Brazil and South Korea. As his choice he accepted (TWAS), The world academy of science awards, and joined Bioenergy lab, as PhD scholar since 15th March 2012 under supervision of Dr. Iracema Andrade Nascimento and under co-supervision of Dr. Wilson Lopes, institute of chemistry, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. Since April, year 2013 he got another visiting research scholar awards from CNPq Brazil, and received three acceptance letters from Taxes A&M University, Lowa State University and Michigan States University, United States though he joined Bioenergy lab, at Department of Bio system and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan States University as visiting research scholar under supervision of Dr. Wei Liao. During that time he published two articles as first author. Javid attained more then five international bioenergy research conferences and meeting in United States, Canada and in Brazil. Since last five years he has been is about 15 publications on an environmental Chemistry and Bioenergy research studies area.

Despite certain environmental advantages over fossil diesel, land crops-derived biodiesel may not satisfy the increasing worldwide demand for the transportations fuel, due to the high production costs. The same may be true if microorganisms such as filamentous fungus are cultivated as feedstock for biodiesel production in synthetic medium. Trying to overcome cost problems this study evaluated the Mortierella isabellina ATCC2613 bioconversion potential of corn stovers into microbial lipids to be used for biodiesel production. A co-hydrolysis process, which applied dilute acid pretreatment without detoxification and liquid –solid separation, was directly followed by enzymatic saccharification and lipid fermentation. The first step involved the conversion of lignocellulose material into monomeric sugars (glucose and xylose), and then the fungus was innoculated into the co-hydrolysate medium to accumulate lipids. The corn stover co-hydrolysate used as the carbon source in these cultures showed comparable results to the synthetic medium. Nevertheless, this research revealed that the applied treatment may lower the production costs and improve the potential of using advanced lignocelluosic material for biodiesel, with a comparable reduction of the CO2 emission.

Jéssika de Souza Rossi is a Chemist and is currently graduate student of Master Degree in Chemistry at São Paulo State University (UNESP), São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. She has experience with bioenergy and bioprocess and her current research is focused on synthesis and characterization of solid catalysts for production of ethyl biodiesel.

Heterogeneous catalytic processes for biodiesel production are challenging, however with advantages as recycling of the catalyst, no soap formation and the possibility of replacing 2+ 3+ +x n- x- methanol with ethanol. The hydrotalcites (HT) [M1-x Mx .(OH)2] (Ax/n ) are double layer hydroxides with magnesium and aluminum and one of its oxide’s characteristics is to gather on its surface acid and basic Lewis elements, that can act in in a combined way with both alcohol activation used in the transesterification, and with the activation of carbonyl’s glycerides and be an interesting system with catalytic potential, consisting mainly of abundant and non-toxic elements and with a simple preparation methodology. Thus, the aim of this paper is to study the effect that the lanthanide elements (Ln) cause in the structure of the HT when used as dopants in order to produce ethyl biodiesel by transesterification. Hydrotalcites were synthesized following the procedures of coprecipitation with molar ratio M2+/M3+ = 3 containing the trivalent ions La, Ce, Yb, and Lu replacing the Al in the molar proportions 1%, 2% and 5%. The oxides resulting from calcination were characterized by XRD, Specific surface area (BET), temperature programmed desorption (TPD-CO2), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and infrared (ATR- FTIR). The catalytic test was performed with 5% (w/w) catalyst/oil. The reaction was conducted with molar ratio of soybean oil/ethanol 1:20 (120°C, 12 h). The doped Ln provided changes in the solid structures and their basic sites. Doped with 1% and 2% resulted in catalytic transesterification activity above 100% over the HT reference.

Adonis Coelho is a Master's degree student in Chemistry at São Paulo State University, campus of São José do Rio Preto. His research is focused on developing heterogeneous catalysts for production of ethyl biodiesel by transesterification.

The environmental concern due to climate change brings the need for the development and study of less polluting fuels. Biodiesel is an alternative to diesel, coming from renewable resources and having low environmental impact. Unlike homogeneous catalysts, heterogeneous catalysts provide lower production costs and is easily separated from the final product can be reused, generating higher quality products not react with the reaction of interveners, enabling retrieve large quantities of products without resorting to very expensive refining processes. The catalysts used in this work are a derived type of hydrotalcites oxide co-precipitated with 10% and 20% Cu+2 and Fe+3 calcined at 723 K. One of the features of hydrotalcites is to gather elements of acid and basic Lewis characteristics on its surface, that operate in a combined form both activating the carbonyl and alcohol groups simultaneously with an interesting catalytic system. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction and specific surface area by the BET method. Transesterification of soybean oil was performed in closed systems with a volume of 15 mL and self-generated pressure, temperature 393 K under constant agitation for 12 hours. A molar ratio ethanol/oil of 20:1 to 20% (w/w) of catalyst in relation to the oil was used in the reaction. The biodiesel produced was quantified by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The hydroxides showed high crystallinity and high surface area and their oxides generated significant catalytic activity, obtaining up to 72% yield.

Mancini, Marcelo is a Master’s student from São Paulo State University. He works in Bioenergy and Bioprocess line research in laboratory sucrochemistry and analytical chemistry at IBILCE-UNESP with basic heterogeneous catalysts doped with metals for the conversion of soybean oil to ethyl biodiesel.

Different aspects of the inclusion of gallium hydrotalcite were exploited in this work to produce heterogeneous catalysts for ethyl biodiesel synthesis with soybean oil. The synthesis of porous mixed metal oxide (PMO), derived from layered double hydroxides (LDH) hydrotalcite type with the general formula Mg6Al2 (CO3) (OH)16 . 4H2O the ratios of M + 2 / M + 3 equal to 3: 1; 4: 1 and 5: 1 by the method of co-precipitation and containing Ga 3+ in replacement of Al 3 + in 50 and 100% ratios was performed in order to study their structural and catalytic properties of soybean oil transesterification with ethanol .The reactions were processed at 120 ° C (12h) in the molar ratio of oil / ethanol 1:20 with 20% (w / w) of catalyst in relation to the oil. HDL's respective samples PMO's were characterized by BET; TG; CO2 adsorption; Zeta potential; XRD and FTIR-ATR. The catalytic activity was determined by GC-FID. Catalysts with higher ratio M + 2 / M + 3 were more effective in biodiesel conversion and the highest yield was 84.8% for the system 4: 1 (MgAl). Catalysts containing 50% Ga yielded 76.3% conversion, where as complete substitution of Al by Ga gave only 11.9% conversion.

Kenza BACHA is a PHD student in chemical materials science at the University Haute Alsace. She has a chemical engineering degree obtained at The Polytechnic School of Algiers and she holds a Master degree in Material and Process for Energy at Ecole Centrale de Paris. She is working in partnership with IS2M, IFP Energies Nouvelles and Renault on the oxidation stability of diesel and biodiesel fuels and the impact of the surface properties on the formation and adhesion of fuel deposit.

Nowadays, oxidative stress for diesel/biodiesel fuel applications can occur during logistics or on board vehicles, leading to the formation of insolubles and deposits. Those may induce mechanical components failure involving injectors blockage, filters plugging and pump wear. In the present work, the oxidation stability of diesel, Rapeseed (RME) and Soybean (SME) Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) and a blend of diesel with 10%v/v RME (B10- RME) was studied. Fuel samples were aged in the PetroOxy test device from 383K to 423 kelvin at 7 bar. Experiments were conducted in oxygen excess and the global kinetic constants were determined. The global kinetic constants for Diesel, B10- RME and RME at 383 K were found 7.92 10-06 s-1, 2.78 10-05 s-1 and 8.87 10 -05 s-1 respectively. Oxidation products formed at different stages of the oxidation were monitored by Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis-Derivative Thermal Gravimetric (TGA-DTG) and GC/MS (Gas Chromatography /Mass Spectrometry). The impact of the FAME feedstock and level of blending on the kinetic rate constant and on the oxidation products were investigated. Results show that RME oxidation forms C19 epoxy as main oxidation product, in addition to methyl ester FAME derivative and short chain oxidation products such as alkane, alkene, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols and acids with carbon number up to C11. FTIR spectra confirm the formation of carbonyl products for all oxidized fuels. The overall amount of oxidation products increases with higher degradation. DTG profiles indicate the formation of high molecular weight product at advanced level of oxidation and for all the oxidized fuels a similar DTG peak was obtained at a temperature around 573K, which may suggest the formation of products having similar molecular weights for diesel, FAME and their blends.

Arnoldo Santos de Lima got his Master degree in Geography from the University of Brasilia Currently he is a PhD student in Sustainable Development, Public Policies and Environmental Management, at Center for Sustainable Development (CSD/UnB). His research specialties include rural and local development, governance on energy.

The paper analyzes the effectiveness of the Brazilian biodiesel governance using the Gaucho Poles as a study case in Rio Grande do Sul State, one of the largest Brazil’s production area. Interviews were made with social actors including farmers, rural unions, cooperatives, associations, research agencies, government representatives, and industries. Secondary data were also included from papers, federal government secretaries and biodiesel industries propaganda. All collected data were processed in Atlas.ti software and generated codes according to the theoretical literature explored. Besides the coding process this paper suggest a toll to organize, analyze and summarize the drivers of performance of energy resource governance mechanisms. The results showed a regular governance performance with low social actor’s participation, a coordination lack with other public policies and a weak technical and socio-institutional innovative experience. From the initial cooperation, the competition amongst biodiesel industries, cooperatives and cereal industries became fierce. The feasibility for the biodiesel industries activities is maintained by the official subsidies and the parallel exploration of the protein-meal and vegetable oil market. The subsequent increasing of the agricultural activities raises questions linked to land use change over the remaining natural prairies and traditional livestock areas over the state brings uncertainties about the sector sustainability. The process reinforced a soybean crops path dependency and strengthened an oriented economic development conception.

Dr. Schoenau is a Professor Emeritus in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. He has published extensively and in the author or co-author of more than 150 papers in the areas of energy efficiency and control systems. He has a served terms as Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and as Associate Dean Research for the College of Engineering. In addition he has been active in various scientific and professional organizations.

Agricultural biomass such as barley, canola, oat and wheat straw residues have the potential to be used as feedstock for the biofuel industry. The removal of these residues from the field is often regarded as beneficial in future crop rotations. Densification of biomass into durable compacts is an effective solution to facilitate easy and economic handling, transportation, storage, and utilization. In this study, an integrated approach to the postharvest process, and a feasibility study of lab-scale and pilot scale densification of non-treated and steam exploded straw was performed to develop baseline data and correlations to assist in performing an overall specific energy analysis. Lab-scale experiments were performed to study the compression characteristics of ground non-treated and steam exploded straw obtained from three hammer mill screen sizes of 6.4, 3.2 and 1.6 mm at 10% moisture content (wb). Four preset pressures of 31.6, 63.2, 94.7 and 138.9 MPa, were applied using an Instron testing machine to compress samples in a cylindrical die. Pilot scale pelleting experiments were performed on non-treated, steam exploded and customized (adding steam exploded straw grinds in increments of 25% to non-treated straw) straw grinds obtained from various hammer mill screen sizes at 10% moisture content (wb). The pilot scale pellet mill produced pellets from ground non-treated straw at hammer mill screen sizes of 0.8 and 1.6 mm and customized samples having 25% steam exploded straw at 0.8 mm. It was observed that the pellet bulk density and particle density are positively correlated. The density and durability of agricultural straw pellets significantly increased with a decrease in hammer mill screen size from 1.6 mm to 0.8 mm. Interestingly, customization of agricultural straw by adding 25% of steam exploded straw by weight resulted in higher durability (> 80%) pellets but did not improve durability compared to non-treated straw pellets. In addition, durability of pellets was negatively correlated to pellet mill throughput and was positively correlated to specific energy consumption. It was determined that the applied pressure (60.4%) was the most significant factor affecting pellet density followed by the application of steam explosion pre-treatment (39.4%) for lab-scale single pellet experiments. Similarly, the type of biomass type (47.1%) is the most significant factor affecting durability followed by the application of pre-treatment (38.2%) and grind size (14.6%) for pellets manufactured from a pilot-scale pellet mill. However all biomass types (straws) had durability levels which were in an acceptable range The pellet mill consumed the highest proportion of total specific energy followed by hammer mill, cooler and chopper for non-treated barley straw at 1.6 mm grind size. A decrease in grind size to 0.8 mm for non-treated straw, significantly increased the proportion of energy contributed by the hammer mill. The most significant factor for customized straw is the specific energy required for steam explosion pre-treatment followed by pellet mill. Total specific energy required to form pellets increased with a decrease in hammer mill screen size from and with customization of straw at the 0.8 mm screen size. It has been determined that the net specific energy available for production of biofuel is a significant portion of original agricultural biomass energy for all agricultural biomass being in the range of 89% to 94%. The applied pressure (58.3%) was the most significant factor affecting specific energy required to manufacture pellets, followed by the biomass type (15.3%), pre-treatment (13.3%) and grind size (13.2%), for lab-scale single pellet experiments. A similar amount of specific energy is required to produce pellets from barley, canola, oat and wheat straw grinds. The overall quality of all straw types was not significantly different. Therefore, biofuel pellet manufacturers should focus on increasing the pellet bulk density and durability since comparable amount of specific energy is required at any specific grind size and pretreatment. Pelleting at a higher grind size would result in substantially less energy being consumed in pellet manufacture. Consequently it is recommended to develop or use pellet mills that could pellet agricultural straw grinds obtained from higher hammer mill screen sizes (>1.6 mm) to increase the net available specific energy for production of biofuels. It should be noted that the pellet mill used in these studies was an older, less efficient model that the horizontal machines currently available in the market.

Sarah Regina Vargas is a Biologist and a M.Sc. graduate in Science from University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil. She has experience with microbiology and ecotoxicology. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Science at Hydraulics and Sanitation Department, University of São Paulo and her research is focused on the hydrogen production with microalgae and cyanobacteria.

An efficient way to produce hydrogen is biologically through microorganisms cultures, which can have a production as efficient as physical and chemical processes. This research aimed to investigate biological hydrogen production with the cyanobacteria Anabaena sp. (1448 - UTEX) by indirect biophotolysis (via nitrogenase) in batch cultures. The experiments were carried out in triplicate using Duran glass bottles as photobioreactors (500 mL). Anabaena sp. was cultivated axenic in BG-11 medium and pH 9.2 in two phases: in the first stage, cultures were maintained in aerobic conditions with nitrogen limitation (10 mg.L-1) to stimulate heterocyst formation, until the middle of the exponential phase; in the second stage, the biomass produced was centrifuged (2000 rpm for 10 minutes), washed (2x) and transferred to closed photobioreactors which had their atmosphere exchanged for argon and were maintained for 204 hours under nitrogen deprivation and two lights intensities (60 and 200 μE.m-2.s-1) for hydrogen production studies. Gas chromatography and Gompertz model were used to measure hydrogen production and hydrogen production rate, respectively. The hydrogen productivity was 44.9 ± 1.14 µmol.L-1.h-1 at the 200 μE.m-2.s-1 light and reached the yield of 8.7 ± 0.73 mmol.L-1. At the light of 60 μE.m-2.s-1 productivity was 43.5 ± 1.39 μmol.L-1.h-1 and reached the yield of 8.7 ± 0.72 mmol.L-1. Although the productivity and yields did not change between lights tested, the experiment showed that the Anabaena strain is able to produce hydrogen biologically at rates close to or even better than other microbial cultures.

The recovery of biocrude from biomass is gaining interest because of its potential use in the sector of renewable energy systems. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is one of the perspective technologies to utilize biomass for biofuel production. In this paper a comprehensive Aspen Plus modelling study was carried out for algal biomass and hydrothermal liquefaction reactor. The primary goal was to develop simplified simulation model for hydrothermal biomass liquefaction. Predictive Soave-Redlich-Kwong (PSRK) equation of state, Unifac model and Yield reactor block were chosen based on a thorough study of a suitable modelling approach. Process simulation was performed based on data from literature and laboratory scale experiments. Simulation results show 1kgs−1 algal biomass generates 0.45-0.62 kgs−1 bio-oil, 0.22-0.07 kgs−1 gas and 0.12-0.26 kgs−1 solids. A comparative study of simulated results and available experimental data has also been done which shows good agreement with energy conversion efficiency and heating values. This model can also be used for other potential biomass feedstocks to predict the biocrude compositions at various operating condition such as temperature, pressure, residence time and water-to-biomass feed ratio.

Carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is increasing as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels each year as 2.3 ppm. However, climate change and the reduction of available energy resources necessities of implementation of new renewable energies. Sources of CO2 in the atmosphere originated from the power plants, from the refineries and from the industries treating their waste and waste waters with anaerobic digestion and fermentation. Furthermore, it was observed that the CO2 emissions increasing significantly from the waste digestires and from the some factories and from the vehicles according to the recent studies. In this study, it was aimed to convert the CO2 to fuel(1-butanol) by Synechococcus elaongatus which is a genous from Cyanobacteria. The ratio of CO2utilized to 1-butanolproduced (CO2utilized/1-butanolproduced) was monitored. The effects of some environmental factors (SO4-2, NO3, NaCl, pH and temperature) were investigated on the 1-butanol production from CO2 The levels of thiolase and Crotonase enzymes produced throughout the metabolism of Synechococcus elaongatus were investigated.

Graduated (1995), master's (1999) and doctorate (2003) in Food Engineering from Unicamp. Concluded post doctoral in Mechanical Engineering at Unesp-Guaratingueta in biodiesel, in 2012. Currently teaches in exclusive dedication, in the Department of Chemical Engineering of Lorena Engineering School of the University of São Paulo, currently in MS-3.1 level (Professor). Has experience in Engineering, with emphasis in Transport Phenomena, acting on the following topics: rheology, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer.

Renewable fuels production got great incentive recently, with fuel prices increase and more environmental issues concerns. Among raw materials available for biofuels, microalgae emerge as a sustainable alternative due high productivity and needlessness in land and water quality. Taking into account the growing interest in microalgae use as biodiesel raw this research aims to analyze rheological behaviour of microalgae suspensions (Chlorella sp) in different culture times, temperature and CO2 contents, in order to estimate the energy demands of each step, aimed optimizing the a continuous-feed tubular bioreactor construction. Rheological analyses were conducted with rotational concentric cylinders viscometer LVDV2T Brookfield viscometer. In all temperature and CO2 concentrations the cultures showed non-Newtonian behavior, for all different culture times. Casson, Power Law and Bingham models adjusted well to the data of shear stress as a function of shear rate. It was observed no effect of culture times and little effect of temperature and CO2 concentration on the apparent viscosity.