Correction: Hunt, R.W. et al. Electromagnetic Biostimulation of Living Cultures for Biotechnology, Biofuel and Bioenergy Applications. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10, 4515–4558

We found some errors in the paper published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences [1]. [...

Biomass Production Potential of a Wastewater Alga Chlorella vulgaris ARC 1 under Elevated Levels of CO2 and Temperature

The growth response of Chlorella vulgaris was studied under varying concentrations of carbon dioxide (ranging from 0.036 to 20%) and temperature (30, 40 and 50°C). The highest chlorophyll concentration (11 μg mL–1) and biomass (210 μg mL–1), which were 60 and 20 times more than that of C. vulgaris at ambient CO2 (0.036%), were recorded at 6% CO2 level. At 16% CO2 level, the concentrations of chlorophyll and biomass values were comparable to those at ambient CO2 but further increases in the CO2 level decreased both of them. Results showed that the optimum temperature for biomass production was 30°C under elevated CO2 (6%). Although increases in temperature above 30°C resulted in concomitant decrease in growth response, their adverse effects were significantly subdued at elevated CO2. There were also differential responses of the alga, assessed in terms of NaH14CO3 uptake and carbonic anhydrase activity, to increases in temperature at elevated CO2. The results indicated that Chlorella vulgaris grew better at elevated CO2 level at 30°C, albeit with lesser efficiencies at higher temperatures

Electromagnetic Biostimulation of Living Cultures for Biotechnology, Biofuel and Bioenergy Applications

The surge of interest in bioenergy has been marked with increasing efforts in research and development to identify new sources of biomass and to incorporate cutting-edge biotechnology to improve efficiency and increase yields. It is evident that various microorganisms will play an integral role in the development of this newly emerging industry, such as yeast for ethanol and Escherichia coli for fine chemical fermentation. However, it appears that microalgae have become the most promising prospect for biomass production due to their ability to grow fast, produce large quantities of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins, thrive in poor quality waters, sequester and recycle carbon dioxide from industrial flue gases and remove pollutants from industrial, agricultural and municipal wastewaters. In an attempt to better understand and manipulate microorganisms for optimum production capacity, many researchers have investigated alternative methods for stimulating their growth and metabolic behavior. One such novel approach is the use of electromagnetic fields for the stimulation of growth and metabolic cascades and controlling biochemical pathways. An effort has been made in this review to consolidate the information on the current status of biostimulation research to enhance microbial growth and metabolism using electromagnetic fields. It summarizes information on the biostimulatory effects on growth and other biological processes to obtain insight regarding factors and dosages that lead to the stimulation and also what kind of processes have been reportedly affected. Diverse mechanistic theories and explanations for biological effects of electromagnetic fields on intra and extracellular environment have been discussed. The foundations of biophysical interactions such as bioelectromagnetic and biophotonic communication and organization within living systems are expounded with special consideration for spatiotemporal aspects of electromagnetic topology, leading to the potential of multipolar electromagnetic systems. The future direction for the use of biostimulation using bioelectromagnetic, biophotonic and electrochemical methods have been proposed for biotechnology industries in general with emphasis on an holistic biofuel system encompassing production of algal biomass, its processing and conversion to biofuel

Optical, Thermal and Electrical Characterization of Urea Sulphamic Acid Single Crystals

International audienceUrea Sulphamic acid single crystal was grown by slow evaporation techniques at room temperature. The cell parameters of the grown crystal were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The presence of functional groups in the crystal lattice has been qualitatively determined by FT-IR analyses. Optical characterization were analysed by UV-Vis and photo Luminescence (PL) spectral studies and the band gap energies of the USA single crystals have been calculated. Thermo gravimetric and differential thermo gravimetric analysis (TG/DTA) indicates the thermal stability of the grown crystal. The dielectric properties of the grown crystal have been studied

Thermal and Dielectric Properties Of L-Malic Acid Doped KDP Single Crystals

International audiencePotassium Dihydrogen Phosphate (KDP) is a popular nonlinear optical materials that is widely used in the field of nonlinear optics for the frequency conversion processes. Optically good quality L-Malic acid doped KDP (LMKDP) crystals have been grown by slow evaporation method at room temperature. The crystallinity of the LMKDP crystals has been studied by powder XRD analysis. The presence of the functional group for LMKDP crystals are qualitatively analyzed from FTIR and FT-RAMAN spectrum. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency was measured by using Kurtz powder technique. The dielectric behavior of grown crystals has been studied in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 50MHz. UV–visible absorption spectrum was recorded to study the optical transparency of grown crystal. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used to study the thermal properties of the grown crystal. Introduction. In this modern era of information and technology with fast and high data storage capacity, data retrieving, processing and transmission demands the search of new NLO materials with unique physical properties. Hence, there is a great demand for synthesize the new NLO materials and grow their single crystals. KDP is among the most widely used NLO material. Potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystals have created considerable interest because of its Piezo-electric, electro-optic, nonlinear optical properties and its extensive application in X-ray monochromators [1]. In addition to their large NLO response, the advantage of organic materials is that they offer high degree of synthetic flexibility to tailor their optical properties through the structural modification and they exhibit high laser damage threshold [2]. In single crystals form, the NLO materials display huge optical nonlinearity, which is of great interest for telecommunication, optical information processing and high optical data storage, etc., [3]. Many methods have been tried to improve the NLO properties of KDP crystal. With the aim of improving the second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency of KDP, researchers have attempted to modify KDP crystals by doping different types of impurities. The present work, L-Malic acid of 0.2 molar percentages has been doped with KDP material. The grown L-Malic acid doped KDP (LMKDP) crystals were characterized by PXRD, FTIR, FT-RAMAN, NLO, Dielectric studies

Growth and metabolic characteristics of oleaginous microalgal isolates from Nilgiri biosphere Reserve of India

Abstract Background Renewable energy for sustainable development is a subject of a worldwide debate since continuous utilization of non-renewable energy sources has a drastic impact on the environment and economy; a search for alternative energy resources is indispensable. Microalgae are promising and potential alternate energy resources for biodiesel production. Thus, our efforts were focused on surveying the natural diversity of microalgae for the production of biodiesel. The present study aimed at identification, isolation, and characterization of oleaginous microalgae from shola forests of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), the biodiversity hot spot of India, where the microalgal diversity has not yet been systematically investigated. Results Overall the higher biomass yield, higher lipid accumulation and thermotolerance observed in the isolated microalgal strains have been found to be the desirable traits for the efficient biodiesel production. Species composition and diversity analysis yielded ten potential microalgal isolates belonging to Chlorophyceae and Cyanophyceae classes. The chlorophytes exhibited higher growth rate, maximum biomass yield, and higher lipid accumulation than Cyanophyceae. Among the chlorophytes, the best performing strains were identified and represented by Acutodesmus dissociatus (TGA1), Chlorella sp. (TGA2), Chlamydomonadales sp. (TGA3) and Hindakia tetrachotoma (PGA1). The Chlamydomonadales sp. recorded with the highest growth rate, lipid accumulation and biomass yield of 0.28 ± 0.03 day−1 (μexp), 29.7 ± 0.69% and 134.17 ± 16.87 mg L−1 day−1, respectively. It was also found to grow well at various temperatures, viz., 25 °C, 35 °C, and 45 °C, indicating its suitability for open pond cultivation. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis of stationary phase cultures of selected four algal strains by tandem mass spectrograph showed C16:0, C18:1 and C18:3 as dominant fatty acids suitable for biodiesel production. All the three strains except for Hindakia tetrachotoma (PGA1) recorded higher carbohydrate content and were considered as potential feed stocks for biodiesel production through hydrothermal liquefaction technology (HTL). Conclusions In conclusion, the present investigation is a first systematic study on the microalgal diversity of soil and water samples from selected sites of NBR. The study resulted in isolation and characterization of ten potent oleaginous microalgae and found four cultures as promising feed stocks for biodiesel production. Of the four microalgae, Chlamydomonadales sp. (TGA3) was found to be significantly thermo-tolerant and can be considered as promising feedstock for biodiesel production

Mapping and Scientometric Measures on Research Publications of Energy Storage and Conversion

The present work investigated mapping and scientometric techniques adopt on the publications towards analysis the research trend in energy storage and conversion. The research was conducted based on Web of Science data for the 1993-2021 periods. The study found out that India's research effort in the energy storage and conversion field was significantly less than world production for all years in the study period from 1993 to 2021. Although the research performance of the contribution of scientists rose to peak levels with over a thousand publications between 2014 and 2021, were the highest-rated collaborative authors with 10 (45.45%) of the publications of the Alagappa University. The main types of sources were published as articles with 23,394 (88.7%) publications. Research articles engaged the first position, Wang Y tops the list with 322 (1.22%) publications, followed by Zhang Y, Wang J, Li Y, Liu J, Zhang L, Liu Y, and Wang L had the 2nd to 8th position for them, of which more than 200 publications testify. It was found that the largest number of published papers in chemistry was 4,444 with 12,103 (45.89%) of the publications, Chinese Peoples were with 12,145 (46.05%) devoted about half of the research publications shared in energy storage and conversion applications

An integrated approach for biodiesel and bioethanol production from Scenedesmus bijugatus cultivated in a vertical tubular photobioreactor

Algae are considered promising renewable feedstocks for the production of alternative fuels. In this study, an indigenous strain of Scenedesmus bijugatus found commonly in the fresh water bodies was isolated and evaluated for biofuels production. The alga was successfully mass cultivated in the custom made vertical tubular photobioreactor (250 L capacity) at semi-continuous mode. During the cultivation period, the volumetric biomass and lipid productivity were assessed. The alga S. bijugatus produced 0.26 g L-1 d-1 of dry biomass and 63 mg L-1 d-1 of lipids, respectively. Algal biomass was harvested by a combined harvesting process involving coagulation and flocculation using Iron (III) sulfate and an organic polymer which resulted in 98% harvesting efficiency. Lipid extraction using hexane:diethyl ether (1:2 ratio) resulted in maximum extraction of lipids. This study also examined sequential stages of esterification and transesterification to convert lipids to biodiesel. The maximum biodiesel yield of 0.21 g/g of dry biomass was obtained through the acid base catalytic process. The biodiesel fuel properties were tested and observed that most of the properties complying with ASTM D6751 specifications. The lipid extracted residual biomass recorded a yield of 0.158 g of bioethanol per g. This study confirmed the potential of lipid extracted biomass for the production of bioethanol to improve the economic feasibility of microalgal biorefinery