Production and starch enrichment of biomass Landoltia punctata in the wastewater polishing, aiming at their use in ethanol production

• Grant number: 15/08213-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Environmental Sanitation
• Principal Investigator: Liliane Lazzari Albertin
• Grantee: José Antônio Zanetoni Filho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Many of wastewater treatment processes require additional nutrient removal to meet discharge standards and preserve the quality of the receiving water body. For this polishing step, this project proposes the use of ponds with floating macrophytes, especially the Lemnaceae family, known as duckweeds. The duckweeds have a high reproductive rate and have a great ability to accumulate starch in their biomass, which sparked interest in using it to produce ethanol. This starch accumulation capacity can be enhanced by manipulating some growth conditions, nutrient availability, temperature, pH, light intensity. Thus, this project will investigate starch enrichment process for biomass to better use in ethanol production. Therefore, an experimental unit for treatment of domestic sewage will be constructed, which will produced duckweed biomass and will tested starch enrichment strategies. It is desired to measure the biomass production rate of the system and starch.