Employing newly developed plastic bubble wrap technique for biofuel production from diatoms cultivated in discarded plastic waste

Mohd Jahir Khan; Richard Gordon; Sunita Varjani; Vandana Vinayak

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153667

Employing newly developed plastic bubble wrap technique for biofuel production from diatoms cultivated in discarded plastic waste

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 1:823:153667. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153667. Epub 2022 Feb 5.

Authors

Mohd Jahir Khan¹, Richard Gordon², Sunita Varjani³, Vandana Vinayak⁴

Affiliations

¹ Diatom Nano Engineering and Metabolism Laboratory (DNM), School of Applied Sciences, Dr. Harisingh Gour Central University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India.
² Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, 222 Clark Drive Panacea, FL 32346, USA; C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth & Development, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Wayne State University, 275 E. Hancock, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
³ Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382010, India. Electronic address: drsvs18@gmail.com.
⁴ Diatom Nano Engineering and Metabolism Laboratory (DNM), School of Applied Sciences, Dr. Harisingh Gour Central University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India. Electronic address: kapilvinayak@gmail.com.

PMID: 35131253
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153667

Abstract

Algal culturing in photobioreactors for biofuel and other value-added products is a challenge globally specifically due to expensive closed or open photobioreactors associated with the high cost, problems of water loss and contamination. Among the wide varieties of microalgae, diatoms have come out as potential source for crude oil in the form of Diafuel™ (biofuel from diatoms). However, culturing diatoms at large scale hypothesized as diatom solar panels for biofuel production is still facing a need for facile and economical production of value-added products. The aim of this work was to culture diatom (microalgae) in a closed system by sealing the reactor rim tightly with very cheap priced and used plastic bubble wrap material which is generally discarded in a lodging and transportation of goods. To optimize it, different plastic wraps discarded from a plastic industry were tested first for their permeability to gases and impermeability to water loss. It was found that among different varieties of plastic bubble wraps, low density polyethylene (LDPE) bubble wrap material which was used to seal glass containers as photobioreactors allowed harvest of maximum Diafuel™ (37%), lipid (35 μgmL^-1), highest cell count (1152 × 10² cells mL^-1), maximum CO₂ absorbance (0.084) with almost no water loss and nutrient uptake for 40 days of experiments. This was due to its permeability to gases and impermeability to water. To check usability of such LDPE bubble wrap on other microalgae it was therefore tested on the red-green microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis, which showed scope to be scaled up for astaxanthin production using discarded bubble wrap packing material. This study thus would open up a new way for decreasing plastic disposal and with reuse for sustainable development and application of diatom in biofuel production which could find applications in environmental and industrial sectors.

MeSH terms

Biofuels
Biomass
Diatoms*
Microalgae*
Photobioreactors
Plastics

Substances

Biofuels
Plastics