Reaching the Microalgaes Goals

OBJECTIVES:

1. Improve the soxhlet method using other organic solvents.
2. Use another technique of colum cromatography.
3. Characterize the microalgae using GC-MS and HPLC.
All the objectives mention above are important and give continuity to the project this semester.  These objectives are stablished to improve the method of extraction and characterization of the microalgaes.  This semester as part of my task of characterization I’m going to be using the HPLC, the HPLC is a instrument I am not very familiar with so this new experience will help me strengthen my skills related to area of microalgae characterization.

Microalgae Reviews…

In this research I’ve learn the different methods of extraction of oil in microalgae.  In our research laboratory we are currently working with the soxhlet method, ultrasound and sonoluminiscence. In my first semester I was working with the soxhlet method but currently I’m working of the characterization of fatty acids in biodiesel.  At first working with the characterization of fatty acids on the GC-MS the data we were getting didn’t make sense, so we started looking for the source of the problem and we found out the column was saturated.  Once we change the column we start collecting new data and working on our main goal and that is the characterization of the fatty acids using calibration curves of standards samples.  My goals for next semester will be to analyze the actual microalgae samples.

Blog Trip

The experience of visiting different blogs was a very rewarding one.  Thanks to this task we were able to learn about the different types of research that the students are part of.  It’s very exciting to learn about the different research areas and the variety of themes.  The first blog I visited was Jesenia Flecha’s blog I was not really related with the type of work that she was doing but reading about her work made me realized how much a hardworking student she is and how much she loves her work.  She was working on an E.Coli clone’s library and I heard from some of my friends that are majoring in microbiology that is a very tedious work that requires a lot of time.  The second blog I visited was Adina Anton’s blog I really enjoy visiting her blog it was more easy to understand the type of work that she was doing because of the different graphics she used to explain her investigation.  Her research topic is the Electrical Characterization of Nanostructures and Microfibers she currently using Zn and Pd to cover the microfibers and nanoshells because they’re materials that improved the electrical properties.  The third and final blog was Keren Valentin’s blog I thought that her work on developing a biosensor capable of detecting H₂S was very interesting.

What’s New on the Microalgae World?

The Research that I’m currently working on is in the area of BioFuels.  We are extracting oil from microalgae and converting the oil in biodiesel.  In this investigation I am in charge of analyzing the biodiesel samples using a GC-MS (Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer).  Before analyzing the biodiesel samples we need to construct calibration curves to quantify the fatty acids in the samples, the way we approach this matter is by preparing standards. We begin by preparing standards of B-5, B-10, B-20 and B-30.  Those are solutions of biodiesel in diesel the numbers stand for the percent of biodiesel in the solution, for example B-5 is 5% of biodiesel in diesel.  The other task I’ve been doing in the laboratory is injecting hexane to verify that the solvent is not presenting a signal that is characteristic of what is going to be analyzed.  We are also analyzing a solution of toluene/hexane to know the concentration of toluene we most used for not saturating the column.  The concentration should be less than 10⁷.  We are using this mixture where the toluene acts like an intern standard to dilute the biodiesel/diesel solution that will be analyzed in the GC-MS.

Primera Hora: Microalgas

En el comienzo de este nuevo semestre tuvimos nuestra primera reunión la cual consistió en informarnos acerca del trabajo que se estará realizando en el laboratorio y las metas que tenemos antes de finalizar el semestre.  Mis tareas en el laboratorio bajo el tema de la extracción de aceite en las microalgas son analizar las muestras de microalgas y cuantificar los ácidos grasos utilizando estándares utilizando el equipo GC-MS.  También se ofreció el taller de transesterificación.  Transesterificación es el proceso de convertir el aceite en Biodiesel.  En la transesterificación el catalizador y el metanol se unen para formar metóxido de sodio (Na+ CH3O-). Cuando se mezcla el metóxido con aceite, rompe las uniones de la molécula de aceite, liberando glicerina y ácidos grasos.   La mezcla del metóxido con el aceite se une al metanol formando así biodiesel.  Una vez se lleve a cabo la extracción de aceite a las microalagas el siguiente paso sería la conversión de aceite a biodiesel utilizando el proceso de transesterificación.  Es por esto que el taller ofrecido fue de mucha importancia además de necesario para  efectuar de manera eficiente el trabajo realizado en el laboratorio.