BIOPLASTIC PRODUCTION FROM CHLORELLA SP., AND SYNTHESIS OF BIOCHAR FROM RESIDUAL BIOMASS, CHARACTERIZATION AND ITS APPLICATION

Abstract

Wastewater and plastic pollution have been persistent global issues of concern for years. development of a cheap, efficient and eco-friendly remediating agent like biochar can be a step forward in water treatment. hence in this study, biochar was synthesised from chlorella sorokiniana and Nephrolepsis auriculata. A comparison of their physico-chemical properties was drawn and the algal biochar was tested for remediation of the methylene blue and heavy metal chromium from synthetic wastewater solutions. Moreover, various parameters of the adsorption experiments like pH, biochar dosage and initial pollutant concentration were optimized. It was concluded that algal biochar could completely remediate the organic cationic dye within 30 minutes but could only remove 75% chromium even after 3 hours of cintact time. In continuation with a lookout for greener alternatives to plastic, the bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate was extracted from chlorella minutissima as well as chlorella sorokiniana. Algae are better alternatives than plants and microbes due to their higher lipid content, no-competitiveness with food and excellent growth rate even on wastewaters. It was observed that the species minutissima accumulated higher amounts of PHB intracellularly, than the sorokinianaspecies. the project aims to highlight the potential of microalgae as a solution to two of the major environmental problems : water pollution and plastics.