Microalgae Biorefinery to Reduce CO2 Emissions and Environmental Impact

Biofuel production from algal biomass is a practical means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. However, high production costs are a major drawback. Microalgae are known to contain functional substances, such as antioxidants, natural pigments, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which contribute to a healthy life when used as cosmetics, dietary supplements and animal feed, are already available in the market. The aim of this project is to create a brand new biorefinery that will reduce production costs and enable commercial use of biofuels. This can be accomplished through the cost-efficient production of useful substances and lipid components obtained from screening 3,000 strains of the microalgae library.

Co-creation Consortium for Functional Bio-Research

- Yamazaki, T., Konosu, E., Takeshita, T., Hirata, A., Ota, S., Kazama,Y.,Abe, T. and Kawano, S.Independent regulation of the lipid and starchsynthesis pathways by sulfate metabolites in the green microalga Parachlorella kessleri under sulfur starvation conditions. Algal Research 36, 37–47 (2018)
- Takeshita, T., Ivanov, I. N., Oshima, K., Ishii, K., Kawamoto, H., Ota,S., Yamazaki, T., Hirata, A., Kazama, Y., Abe, T., Hattori, M., Bišováb,K., Zachleder, V. and Kawano, S.: Comparison of lipid productivity of Parachlorella kessleri heavy-ion beam irradiation mutant PK4 in laboratory and 150-L mass bioreactor, identification and characterization of its genetic variation. Algal Research 35, 416–426 (2018)

- Patent number 2014-259462 ( request for examination), PCT/JP2015/085796, WO 2016104487 A1 (2014/12/22)
- Patent number 2014-152376 ( request for examination), PCT/JP2015/071156, WO2016013671 A1 (2014/7/25)