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Nuce International 2010

Microlife take part in the Nuce International 2010 in Milan Fair from 26 to 28 October 2010

Zeroemission Rome 2009

Microlife will take part in the exhibition in Rome 30 September - 2 October 2009.

Biofuel Expo

Algae on the Move: The 2008 Algae Biomass Summit Wrap-up

by John F. Pierce and Thomas Byrne
Washington, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Taking a look back at the recently held 2008 Algae Biomass Summit that took place from October 23-24 in Seattle, it is hard to believe how far this young industry has come in just one year.Last fall, the Inaugural Algae Biomass Summit had a solid group of 350 attendees who came to discuss algae's future in renewable energy. Out of that conference the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) was formed with the mission to accelerate the development of the algae industry.

The cultivation of seaweed

fig-10-cp"Lower vegetable organisms with photosynthetic capacity due to the presence of chlorophyll, therefore capable of transforming light energy into chemical energy."

Some micro-algae are capable of producing large quantities of vegetable oil. This production may be of economic interest and can be implemented in open sea or in coastal areas, lagoons, lakes, dams or where growing conditions are feasible and affordable. In this case, the oily substance produced may greatly exceed 40% of the original algal mass. However, the production of oil and, therefore, biodiesel should result at least 30 times higher than can be obtained today from oilseed rape or sunflower crops, consistent with the area employed. The reason is that you can harvest many times over while oily plants are limited to a single annual harvest.

 

Plant for the culture of microalgae.

The cultivation of photosynthetic bacteria in closed photoreactors represents a significant evolution in comparison to systems in open tanks. Considerable studies have been made over the past 15 years about the creation of tubular equipment able to determine, compared with a bathtub, increases in the production of photosynthetic biomass by eliminating some problems typical of open systems such as evaporation and contamination of physical and biological micro algal culture.

The choice to build a tube plant responds to the need of producing biomass for energy, for the maximum level of purity.


 

General overview

The system features considerable flexibility depending on the cultivation of different microbial species and the possible expansion of modular production.
The plant has the following structure:

  1. water treatment section
  2. production and air treatment section
  3. cultivating media production section
  4. inoculation section
  5. modular production sections
  6. biomass harvesting, processing and storage section
  7. laboratory section
  8. wastewater treatment section
  9. biodiesel production section
  10. biogas production section.

Microlife system dimensional aspects su mq 1000

  • Production area: 1000 sq. m.
  • Numbers of bioreactors: 2,150
  • Volume crop sq. m.: 1500 liters
  • Total: 838.5 mc
  • Productivity: 0.4-0.6 g /ss / l / day
  • Production (productivity x number liters): about 3 tons / week
  • Average production of 35% lipid:1.13 ton / week
  • Conversion between lipid and biodiesel: (about 90%) 45-50 tons / year

Microlife system dimensional projection aspects su 1 ha

  • Production area:10,000 sq. m.
  • Biodiesel product:450-500 tons / year

Microlife system’s principal characteristics

  1. Crop volume per unit area in open tank installations and tubular horizontal prototypes doesn't reach 150-160 liters per square meter, compared with that Microlife's 1500 per sq. m.
  2. The use of low consume lighting sources allows to extend the production period of the microalgae, going from the current 8 hours of natural daylight to 24 hours, therefore eliminating the phenomenon of production regression. This phenomenon results in the 30% reduction of microalgal biomass produced during the dark phase of the photoperiod.
  3. Microlife achieves significantly higher productivity, expressed in mg / liter of dry matter per day (0.4-0.6 g dry matter per liter / day of culture), compared to production systems currently used to produce an average 0.1-0.2 g (in conditions of ambient light).
  4. The use of exhausted biomass - after removing the lipid fraction used in the production of biodiesel in anaerobic digestion systems - allows to optimize Microlife's plant energy input both in terms of electricity for the lighting of the crops and in terms of heat energy that can be used for bioreactor thermoregulation and for drying the biomass.
  5. Microlife's plant modularity allows to expand the basic productive modules - 1000 sq.m. - to help increase the production of microalgae biomasses.

The identification of different types of photobioreactors allows to optimize the production of microbial strains that have different culture conditions.


Microalgae

fig-7-cpMicroalgae, including cyanobacteria, which share with microalgae a bioenergetic metabolism (oxygen photosynthesis) but differ in cellular structure (the first eukaryotic, the second, prokaryotic), are directly responsible for just under 50% of photosynthesis on earth.

Microalgae, including cyanobacteria, which share with microalgae a bioenergetic metabolism (oxygen photosynthesis) but differ in cellular structure (the first eukaryotic, the second, prokaryotic), are directly responsible for just under 50% of the photosynthesis on earth.

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