Life Sciences Commons^™

Storage Of Round And Square Switchgrass Bales: Effect Of Storage Time And Fungal Inoculation On Saccharification Efficiency, Noaa Frederick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To produce fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass feedstock, severe pretreatment conditions are needed (either high acid concentration, temperature, or retention times). High severities can produce toxic byproducts which inhibit enzymatic hydrolysis or fermentation. In order to reduce pretreatment severities (and thus increase enzyme and fermentation efficiency), the white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreastus was seeded into square and round bales of Kanlow switchgrass (Panicum virgastum L.) and left in the field over a period of 9 month. The laccase producing fungus is believed to selectively degrade lignin, a common plant structural polymer, which can function as an enzymatic inhibitor. Samples were taken …

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO₂-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m² surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …

Engineering Triterpene Metabolism In Tobacco, Zuodong Jiang

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Terpenes comprise a large diverse class of natural products and many of them attract interest because of their physiological function, therapeutic and industrial values. Triterpene oils including squalene (C30), botrycococcene (C30) and their methylated derivatives (C31-C37) generated by the green algae Botryococcus braunii race B, which have recently received significant attention because of their utility for advanced biofuels. However, the slow growth habit of B. braunii makes it impractical as a robust biofuel production system. In this thesis, we firstly evaluated the potential of generating high levels of triterpene (C30) production in tobacco plants by diverting carbon flux from cytosolic …