ASSESSMENT FROM THE TECHNOLOGICAL VIGILLANCE OF ALGAE CONTRIBUTION TO A BIOREFINERY

Abstract

The industry of sugar cane opens an extraordinary perspective to convert a biorefinery that uses the sugar cane as chemical products and energy source, being many the possibilities that have been studied to integrate this industry in the biorefinery concept. One of the roads that it is beginning to analyze is the employment of the residual stillage of the alcohol process production like half of microalgae cultivation, those that in turn constitute the fundamental biomass for the obtaining of third generation biofuels (biodiesel and bioethanol). The stillage constitutes a half suitable one for the microalgae’s cultivation and through these it would improve the quality of the stillage like to pour for the removal of soluble organic and inorganic polluting components. Also, it`s integration to a still, in a sugar complex, would allow to take advantage of the stillage in turn the carbon dioxide removed in the fermentation of the bioethanol process production. The microalgae biomass has the biggest yield of oil in front of diverse sources of alternative energy of vegetable origin, what presents it like a promising road for the biodiesel obtaining. On the other hand, this biomass besides lipids contains cellulose and hemicellulose that can be used as source of carbon in the processes of fermentation to produce ethanol, having as advantage its contained first floor of lignin that allows to suppress the stage of pretreatment of the biomass and to carry out directly the hydrolysis of this cellulosic material.