Autotrophic microalgae are a promising bioproducts platform. However, the fundamental requirements these organisms have for nitrogen fertilizer severely limit the impact and scale of their cultivation. As an alternative to inorganic fertilizers, we investigated the possibility of using amino acids from deconstructed biomass as a nitrogen source in the genus Dunaliella. We found that only four a...

Color and size are two important attributes for quality evaluation of most food and bioproducts. Many of the quality factors affecting oil palm and white powder starch are determined primarily by visual inspection. Such inspections determined market price and to a certain extent consumers' preferences. However, the inspection of oil palm and white powder starch is a very repetitive and tedious ...

AlgaeSim, a dynamic multiple-systems (C, N, P) mass balance model, was developed to explore the potential for algae biomass production from wastewater by coupling two photobioreactors into the main treatment train at a municipal wastewater resource recovery facility (WRRF) in Tampa, Florida. The scoping model examined the synergy between algae cultivation and wastewater treatment through algal ...

Phasins are a particularly fascinating class of small-molecular weight proteins that the dominant surrounding bioplastic granules produced by bacteria, called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHAs biopolymers interest since their thermomechanical properties comparable to petroleum-based plastics, they biodegradable, biocompatible, and can be from renewable bioresources. As design development susta...

A new latex agglutination (LA) test (Wampole Laboratories, Cranbury, N.J.) for detection of antibody to herpes simplex virus was compared with a reference complement fixation (CF) method in a premarket evaluation. Of 102 serum samples tested, 19 were LA negative and CF negative, 79 were LA positive and CF positive, and 4 were LA positive and CF negative. An enzyme immunoassay (M. A. Bioproducts...

Gasification involves turning organic fuels (such as biomass resources) into gaseous compounds (producer gas or syngas) by supplying less oxygen than is needed for com­ plete combustion of the fuel. Gasifica­ tion occurs at temperatures between 1112o and 2732o F and produces a lowto medium-energy gas depending upon the process type and operating conditions. Gasification of biomass resources is ...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers with desirable material properties similar to petrochemically derived plastics. PHAs are naturally produced by a wide range of microorganisms as a carbon storage mechanism and can accumulate to significantly high levels. PHAs are an environmentally friendly alternative to their petroleum counterparts because they can be easily degraded, potentially r...

Background The plastics derived from petrochemicals have many applications. However, public concern and environmental laws led to conservation policies and establish programs that stimulate the research and use of new products based on renewable resources. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers synthesized by microorganisms under conditions of nutrient stress with similar properties to co...

Light is harvested in cyanobacteria by chlorophyll-containing photosystems embedded in the thylakoid membranes and phycobilisomes (PBSs), photosystem-associated light-harvesting antennae. Light absorbed by the PBSs and photosystems can be converted to chemical energy through photosynthesis. Photosynthetically fixed carbon pools, which are constrained by photosynthetic light capture versus the d...

Biocatalysis has become a powerful tool for the synthesis of high-value compounds, particularly so in the case of highly functionalized and/or stereoactive products. Nature has supplied thousands of enzymes and assembled them into numerous metabolic pathways. Although these native pathways can be use to produce natural bioproducts, there are many valuable and useful compounds that have no known...