Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Napoleon Ballroom C-D, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
A common language in measurement technology used in the algal biofuels industry/research environment is necessary to standardize the methodologies used to compare yields and processes. Algal analysis methods are historically poorly described in and published yields of algal biofuels processes are highly dependent on the measurement chemistry associated with the analytical procedure and often contribute to an unhelpful hype surrounding algal biofuels. We will describe an in situ transesterification procedure as a measure of the fuel potential of algae. Algal lipid quantification has been successfully correlated to NIR spectra to build algae-specific lipid prediction models. We are working towards robust carbohydrate analysis in algae, by comparing different hydrolysis and chromatography techniques. We will describe results from these measurement techniques and describe plans to further characterize algal biomass.