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Bioethanol Production from Green Alga Chlorococcum minutum through Reduced Graphene Oxide-Supported Platinum-Ruthenium (Pt-Ru/RGO) Nanoparticles

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Abstract

Due to the continuous depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels, there is a focus on renewable energy sources such as bioethanol, biobutanol, biohydrogen and biodiesel. Microalgae have been used to yield high sugar content via alteration of the photosynthetic pathway, thereby enhancing ethanol production. Moreover, certain nanostructured composites in the medium supports biomass enhancement through modification of the photosynthetic pathway. In the present study, reduced graphene oxide-supported platinum-ruthenium (Pt-Ru/RGO) nanoparticles were synthesised, characterised and assessed the role in tris–acetate phosphate (TAP) medium for the improvement of green alga Chlorococcum minutum (C. minutum) biomass under in vitro conditions. Chemically, Pt-Ru/RGO nanoparticles play a useful role as a catalyst in the improvement of chemical reactions and influence the electron supply/transport system. Total chlorophyll and wet biomass contents were 8.26 mg/L and 14.0 g/L in TAP with 1.0 mg/L of nano-Pt-Ru/RGO (CM2) medium when compared with untreated cultures, but total lipid content was more (24.5 g/100 g) in TAP with 0.5 mg/L of nano-Pt-Ru/RGO (CM1) medium. Later, these nano Pt-Ru/RGO-assisted algal feedstocks were used to convert sugars into ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) dark fermentation. The current standardised TAP media in the presence of 0.5 or 1.0 mg/L of Pt-Ru/RGO nanoparticles (CM1 or CM2 medium) improved the ethanol production (32.6 and 31.2 g/L at 72 h respectively) from feedstocks of C. minutum. In conclusion, Pt-Ru/RGO nanoparticles can enhance the chemical reactions in photosynthesis likely at the electron transport system and increased the biomass in turn ethanol production.

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Data Availability

Nanomaterial data in the present investigation is available from Dr. Loka Subramanyam Sarma, Department of Chemistry, Yogi Vemana University.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Prof. Mathivanan, University of Madras, Chennai, India, for C. minutum culture and also Dr. L.V. Reddy and Dr. Veda, Department of Microbiology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, India, for their technical help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, 516 005, A.P., India

    D. Varaprasad, N. Raga Sudha, S. Nazaneen Parveen & T. Chandrasekhar

  2. Department of Chemistry, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, 516 005, A.P., India

    P. Raghavendra & L. Subramanyam Sarma

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Annamacharya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Kadapa, 516 003, A.P., India

    P. Sri Chandana

  4. Department of Microbiology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, 516 005, A.P., India

    M. Subhosh Chandra

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Contributions

TCS is designed the work and DVP, PR, LSS and SNP executed the work. DVP, PR and NRS carried out the statistics and figures work. DVP and TCS wrote the manuscript and LSS, SNP, PSC and MSC provided the suggestions and improved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to T. Chandrasekhar.

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Supplementary Fig. 1

Morphological and structural details of Pt-Ru/RGO nanoparticles. a Low-resolution TEM image, b high-resolution TEM, c XRD analysis (JPG 77 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Growth and biomass of C. minutum in various media (JPG 34 kb)

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Varaprasad, D., Raghavendra, P., Sudha, N.R. et al. Bioethanol Production from Green Alga Chlorococcum minutum through Reduced Graphene Oxide-Supported Platinum-Ruthenium (Pt-Ru/RGO) Nanoparticles. Bioenerg. Res. 15, 280–288 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-021-10282-4

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