EVENT: Algal Hydrocarbon Production: Method Development for Product Extraction and Quantitation

Dr. Ela Eroglu is one of the newest researchers to join the UWA - Centre for Energy. Ela completed her Postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley on algal biofuels, following her PhD Degree in Chemical Engineering (METU, Turkey) on biohydrogen production by utilization of agricultural wastes.

Developing practical methods for the determination of lipid, hydrocarbon or biopolymer content in microalgae and other microorganisms can find useful applications in the screening of microbial species for product over-accumulation, as well as monitoring the product content in the cells of a given culture as a function of growth conditions and external treatments. This work provides direct density equilibrium measurement for the total lipid, hydrocarbon or biopolymer content in a variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Hydrocarbon productivities of the various strains of Botryococcus (green microalgae) were also measured by solvent-extraction process and spectrophotometric analysis of these hydrocarbons extracts, in addition to the gravimetric quantitation of eluted hydrocarbons.

Ela will present her latest research at the Bioenergy Forum at 4 -5 pm on Tuesday 2nd November with drinks and nibbles available after the presentation till 6pm.