Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction and fractionation of lipids from freeze-dried microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata and Chlorella vulgaris

This study deals with the selective extraction of neutral lipids from microalgae. We investigated the consequences of bypassing cell-wall disintegration before supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. Different operating parameters (use of co-solvent, pressure, and time) were tested on freeze-dried Chlorella vulgaris and Nannochloropsis oculata. The solid phase extraction technique (SPE) was used throughout the extraction process to assess variations in the yield of liberated neutral lipids, glycolipids, and phospholipids. Under operating conditions, 97% of neutral lipids were extracted from C. vulgaris using ethanol (10% v/v) as co-solvent. Neutral lipids from N. oculata represented most of the extracts (83%), whereas the proportion of glycolipids and phospholipids did not exceed 12.1% and 5.3%, respectively. Microscopic observation showed that cell wall integrity was maintained during the extraction process

Extraction of lipids and pigments of Chlorella vulgaris by supercritical carbon dioxide: influence of bead milling on extraction performance

The influence of bead milling on the extraction of lipids and pigments by supercritical carbon dioxide was investigated in this study. Different operating parameters for the 3-h process were first tested on raw Chlorella vulgaris; 600 bar was the optimum pressure at 60 °C with a carbon dioxide flow rate of 30 g min−1. Under these operating conditions, 10 % of total lipid containing chlorophyll and carotenoids with 1.61 and 1.72 mg g−1 dry weight of microalga, respectively, has been recovered. Microscopic observation was used to assess a cell wall breakage through bead milling, which produced positive results in terms of increasing the yield of biomolecules of interest. Thus, under the same operating conditions, the yield of total lipid extract, chlorophyll and carotenoids increased significantly. Moreover, the addition of a polar co-solvent to a raw microalga had a considerable effect on the final extract. Overall, the addition of 5 % w v−1 ethanol to a raw microalga increased the total extract yield by 27 %, and bead milling increased the total extract yield by 16 %. Chlorophyll and carotenoids were also significantly affected by the addition of ethanol, with an 81 and 65 % increase with a raw microalga and a 61 and 52 % increase using bead milling, respectively

Towards IASI-New Generation (IASI-NG): impact of improved spectral resolution and radiometric noise on the retrieval of thermodynamic, chemistry and climate variables

Besides their strong contribution to weather forecast improvement through data assimilation, thermal infrared sounders onboard polar-orbiting platforms are now playing a key role for monitoring atmospheric composition changes. The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument developed by the French space agency (CNES) and launched by Eumetsat onboard the Metop satellite series is providing essential inputs for weather forecasting and pollution/climate monitoring owing to its smart combination of large horizontal swath, good spectral resolution and high radiometric performance. EUMETSAT is currently preparing the next polar-orbiting program (EPS-SG) with the Metop-SG satellite series that should be launched around 2020. In this framework, CNES is studying the concept of a new instrument, the IASI-New Generation (IASI-NG), characterized by an improvement of both spectral and radiometric characteristics as compared to IASI, with three objectives: (i) continuity of the IASI/Metop series; (ii) improvement of vertical resolution; (iii) improvement of the accuracy and detection threshold for atmospheric and surface components. In this paper, we show that an improvement of spectral resolution and radiometric noise fulfill these objectives by leading to (i) a better vertical coverage in the lower part of the troposphere, thanks to the increase in spectral resolution; (ii) an increase in the accuracy of the retrieval of several thermodynamic, climate and chemistry variables, thanks to the improved signal-to-noise ratio as well as less interferences between the signatures of the absorbing species in the measured radiances. The detection limit of several atmospheric species is also improved. We conclude that IASI-NG has the potential for strongly benefiting the numerical weather prediction, chemistry and climate communities now connected through the European GMES/Copernicus initiative

Ground-based FTIR measurements of O3- and climate-related gases in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere

In the frame of the EC project UFTIR (Time series of Upper Free Troposphere observations from a European ground-based FTIR network), a common strategy for an optimal determination of the chemical composition in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere with ground-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers is being developed. The project focuses on 6 target species that are O3, CO, CH4, N2O, C2H6 and CHClF2 (HCFC-22). The strategy consists in selecting the most appropriate parameters to retrieve vertical concentration profiles from solar FTIR spectra. Among the important parameters are the spectral microwindows: they have been optimised to maximise the information content and to minimize the influence of poorly known spectroscopic data and interfering species

Advanced exploitation of ground-based Fourier transform infrared observations for tropospheric studies over Europe: achievements of the UFTIR project

Solar absorption measurements using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry carry information about the atmospheric abundances of many constituents, including information about their vertical distributions in the troposphere and the stratosphere. Such observations have regularly been made since many years as a contribution to the NDSC (Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change). They are the only ground-based remote sensing observations available nowadays that carry information about key atmospheric trace species in the free troposphere, among which the most important greenhouse gases. The European UFTIR project (Time series of Upper Free Troposphere observations from a European ground-based FTIR network, http://www.nilu.no/uftir) has focused on maximizing the information content of FTIR long-term monitoring data of some direct and indirect greenhouse gases (CH4, N2O, O3,HCFC-22, and CO and C2H6, respectively). The UFTIR network includes six NDSC stations in Western Europe, covering the polar to subtropical regions. At several stations of the network, the observations span more than a decade. Existing spectral time series have been reanalyzed according to a common optimized retrieval strategy, in order to derive distinct tropospheric and stratospheric abundances of the abovementioned target gases. A bootstrap resampling method has been implemented to evaluate trends of the tropospheric and total burdens of the target gases, including their uncertainties. In parallel, simulations of the target time series have been made with the Oslo CTM2 model: comparisons between the model results and the observations provide valuable information to improve the model, and in particular, to optimize emission estimates that are used as inputs to the model simulations, and to explain the observed trends. The final results of the project will be presented, and ways to proceed will be discussed

New multi-station and multi-decadal trend data on precipitable water. Recipe to match FTIR retrievals from NDACC long-time records to radio sondes within 1mm accuracy/precision

We present an original optimum strategy for retrieval of precipitable water from routine ground-based midinfrared FTS measurements performed at a number globally distributed stations within the NDACC network. The strategy utilizes FTIR retrievals which are set in a way to match standard radio sonde operations. Thereby, an unprecedented accuracy and precision for measurements of precipitable water can be demonstrated: the correlation between Zugspitze FTIR water vapor columns from a 3 months measurement campaign with total columns derived from coincident radio sondes shows a regression coefficient of R = 0.988, a bias of 0.05 mm, a standard deviation of 0.28 mm, an intercept of 0.01 mm, and a slope of 1.01. This appears to be even better than what can be achieved with state-of-the-art micro wave techniques, see e.g., Morland et al. (2006, Fig. 9 therein). Our approach is based upon a careful selection of spectral micro windows, comprising a set of both weak and strong water vapor absorption lines between 839.4 – 840.6 cm-1, 849.0 – 850.2 cm-1, and 852.0 – 853.1 cm-1, which is not contaminated by interfering absorptions of any other trace gases. From existing spectroscopic line lists, a careful selection of the best available parameter set was performed, leading to nearly perfect spectral fits without significant forward model parameter errors. To set up the FTIR water vapor profile inversion, a set of FTIR measurements and coincident radio sondes has been utilized. To eliminate/minimize mismatch in time and space, the Tobin best estimate of the state of the atmosphere principle has been applied to the radio sondes. This concept uses pairs of radio sondes launched with a 1-hour separation, and derives the gradient from the two radio sonde measurements, in order to construct a virtual PTU profile for a certain time and location. Coincident FTIR measurements of water vapor columns (two hour mean values) have then been matched to the water columns obtained by integrating the best-estimate radio sonde profiles. This match was achieved via investigating the quality of the correlation plots between the columns derived from the radio sondes and the FTIR retrievals, and iteratively tuning the regularization strength of the FTIR retrieval. The FTIR regularization matrix is based on a Tikhonov operator which allows for empirical tuning of the regularization strength via one parameter. The figures of merit for the iterative tuning have been the slope, the intercept, and the regression coefficient of the correlation. By this way an optimum retrieval setting could be found, guaranteeing a response of the FTIR retrievals to true water vapor changes, which is matched to the radio sonde operation. As first examples for utilizing this approach to derive long-term trends of precipitable water from NDACC type long-term FTIR measurements, we present trends from two time series. I.e., one retrieved from continuous FTIR measurements at the NDACC Primary Station Zugspitze, Germany (47.42 °N, 10.98 °E, 2964 m a.s.l.), which covers the time span 1995-2009, and one from the International Scientific Station of the Jungfraujoch (ISSJ, 46.5°N, 8.0°E, 3580m a.s.l., Swiss Alps), covering the time span 1984 – 2009. A detailed trend analysis of both series via the bootstrap method will be presented. In ongoing work we apply this optimum retrieval approach to historical long-time measurement series of further selected FTIR stations of the NDACC network. Thereby we will obtain unprecedented new climate data via long term trends of precipitable water at a set of globally distributed locations