 Diminishing Fossil Fuels At 2006 consumption rates  Oil – 40 years  Coal – 200 years  Natural Gas – 70 years (Shafiee et al., 2008)  Concerns over Carbon Emissions Carbon Dioxide a major contributor to global warming Global Temperatures have risen 0.9 o C in the past 140 years Evidence temperature will rise 0.2 o C each decade (Nema et al., 2012)

 Used to produce biodiesel and ethanol  Does not require agricultural land  Does not require large amounts of fresh water  Can be grown in waste/brackish water  High efficiency CO 2 mitigation  Can be harvested year long (Mascarelli, 2009)

Experimental Parameters:  Acidification 5% H 2 SO 4  Sonication 2 minutes at 20 kHz, 150 W  Thermal 121 o C, 15 psi (103.4 kPa) for 90 min  Microwave 10 W, 145 o C for 5 min

 Algae biomass blended and lyophilized 0.5 g dry algal mass per sample  Treatment 3 replicates per treatment conditions  Supernatant filtered using Büchner funnel and vacuum filter flask  Monosaccharaide derivatization by alditol reduction/acetylation  Analysis by GC-MS

 5.0 mL filtered supernatant 4.4 mL 0.3 M H 2 SO mL internal standard  1.0 mL solution transferred to test tube  Concentrated NH 4 OH added and vortex-mixed  Excess KBH 4 added and vortex-mixed  Reduction allowed to proceed for 90 min at 40 o C  Reduction quenched with glacial acetic acid

 400 μ L of alditol solution transferred to new test tubes  1-methylimidazole added and vortex-mixed  Acetic anhydride added drop-wise and vortex-mixed Acetic Anhydride1-Methylimidazole Acetate1-Methyl-3-acetylimidazole Alditol 1-methyl-3-acetylimidazole Alditol Acetate1-Methylimidazole

 Reacted for 30 min then anhydride decomposed with D.I. water  Extracted into dichloromethane and stored in autosampler vials  Samples run through HP 6890 Gas Chromatograph with a 5973N MSD mass selective detector and HP 7683 Series Autosampler

Calibration Standard Sample Arabinose Xylose Mannose IS Glucose Galactose

 Peak areas calculated using MSD Chemstation integrator  Calibration Standard Amount Ratio (AR) = C s /C IS Response Ratio (RR) = Area s /Area IS Relative Response Factor (RRF) = AR/RR  Samples C s = RR x RRF x C IS mass% Ash Free Dry Mass = [k x C s x (sample vol)]/[mass i x (1 - %ash)]

 Different Species of Acid Sulfuric  5% concentrated H 2 SO 4 by volume (0.9 M) Citric  g solid dissolved in 1.0 L (0.9 M) Acetic  10% glacial acetic acid by volume (1.8 M)  Different Temperatures 15 W, 5 minutes at:  100 o C  125 o C  150 o C

 Investigated different combinations of acid, sonic, thermal, and microwave treatments to optimize saccharide release from dried algae biomass.  Using these results, a new screening matrix was created investigating different combinations of acid species and temperatures.

 A combination of acid and heat is crucial for effective saccharide release.  Hydrolysis at lower temperatures may be nearly as effective as high temperatures with certain acids.

Investigate the effect of more acid species Investigate different temperature ranges Investigate the sulfuric treatment at the same power

Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities Program (WMU) Arts & Sciences Teaching and Research Award(WMU)

 Dr. John Miller  Kristin Hampel  Dr. Steve Bertman  Dr. James Kiddle  Dr. Nayane Udawatte  Dr. Jesse Thompson

Shafiee, S.; Topal, E. When will fossil fuel reserves be diminished? Energy Policy. 2009, Vol. 37 (1), pp Nema, P.; Nema, S.; Roy, P. An overview of global climate changing in current scenario and mitigation action. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2012, Vol. 16 (4), pp 2329–2336 Mascarelli, A. Algae: fuel of the future? Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, Vol. 43 (19), pp 7160–7161

Li, Y.; Horsman, M.; Wu, N.; Lan, C.; Dubois-Calero, N. Biofuels from Microalgae. Nanotechnology Progress. 2008, Vol. 24 (4), pp Najafi, G.; Ghobadian, B.; Yusaf, T. Algae as a sustainable energy source for biofuel production in Iran: A case study. Energy Policy. 2011, Vol. 15 (8), pp 3870–3876 Oltra, C. Stakeholder perceptions of biofuels from microalgae. Energy Policy. 2011, Vol. 39 (3), pp 1774–1781