Studying the Microalgae Growth and Stable Nanoemulsion Production Systems for Environmental Mitigations

摘要

Recently, environmental concerns have been rising in the world because of the greenhouse gases, such as CO2, N2O, CH4, and fluorinated gases and industrial products, which in turn cause irreversible climate changes. Algal oil is considered to be one of the most promising alternatives of natural sources for energy production, but the lipid accumulation and lipid productivity of microalgae have been far from the desired levels. This research focuses on culturing spirulina algae in a tank in the laboratory with optimum growth conditions over a period of 40 days. Then, the lipid content was increased by growing microalgae in stressful conditions under low temperature, light or low nutrient supply. After the lipid extractions, produced algae oil was converted into nanoemulsion using surfactant and sonication process. The test results showed that the particle size of the emulsions was less than 10 nm and stable (without any separation) for at least two months.