Extraction and characterization of bioproducts obtained from microalgae

• Grant number: 21/10767-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 28, 2022
• End date: May 27, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Patricia Caroline Molgero da Rós
• Grantee: Fellipe Cesar Cardoso de Souza Felix
• Supervisor: Nídia de Sá Caetano
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade do Porto (UP), Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/02677-4 - Obtaining bioproducts in the context of a sustainable microalgae-based biorrefinery, BP.IC

Abstract

This project aims to extract and characterize bioproducts such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and pigments from the marine microalgae Dunaliella salina, aiming to strengthen this line of research in the Department of Chemical of Escola de Engenharia de Lorena at USP. To achieve this goal, the performance of different methods of cell disruption and solvents used for extracting bioproducts will be evaluated, aiming to select the most suitable for release of the cell content of interest, which will be characterized according to the parameters of interest to the project. It is noteworthy that these experiments will be carried out from freeze-dried microalgal biomass, previously cultivated at the EEL-USP Microalgae Engineering Laboratory. In addition to the knowledge acquired by the student, the contribution of this project will be the improvement of an important area of expertise at EEL/USP with researchers from the Superior Institute of Engineering of Porto (ISEP) and the University of Porto (FEUP - Faculty of Engineering, LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy), aiming at strengthening internationalization activities. (AU)