VIEW VIDEO PRESENTATION HERE
Poster Presentation by Emma Khorunzhy
Junior, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Mentor: Nanette Boyle, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Abstract:
With the increasing impact of climate change, coupled with increasing energy demands and the depletion of oil and gas reserves, it is clear that new and sustainable energy sources need to be developed. Renewable and regenerative energy resources show promise but are compounded by their low energy output and high production cost. This research explores whether combining an agricultural waste product, molasses desugarized solubles (MDS) with synthetic wastewater media can increase lipid, protein, carbohydrate, and astaxanthin production in various strains of freshwater alga. I predict the presence of MDS will result in algae with higher biomass productivity compared to algae grown without MDS in synthetic wastewater media. With a lab-scale contamination problem, this experiment experienced contamination and had to be terminated. This poster provides an outline for the experimental setup; this research will continue after the control of the contaminant.