Ciencias Exactas y Ciencias de la Salud
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11285/551039
Pertenecen a esta colección Tesis y Trabajos de grado de las Maestrías correspondientes a las Escuelas de Ingeniería y Ciencias así como a Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud.
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- Valorization of pelagic Sargassum as a source of alginate and sugars for subsequent biofuel production(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 2021-11-01) Amador Castro, Luis Fernando; Carrillo Nieves, Danay; puemcuervo; García Cayuela, Tomás; Guajardo Flores, Daniel; School of Engineering and Sciences; Campus Monterrey; Rodríguez Martínez, VerónicaOver the last decade, massive tides of Sargassum, a genus of brown algae, have arrived at Caribbean shores deriving in a myriad of environmental and economic problems. Aiming to lessen the impacts, governments from the affected countries have opted to remove the seaweed from marine ecosystems. However, its collection is expensive, posing another economic challenge for the already affected countries. Biomass valorization has been proposed as a suitable alternative to funding cleaning activities, triggering numerous investigations in recent years. Albeit different pathways have been suggested, Sargassum biomass has failed to find effective uses in the industry. This study aims to maximize the value of Sargassum as a potential raw material into a biorefinery scheme to produce alginate and sugars, considering this last product for subsequent biofuels production. Findings indicate that alginate extraction and sugar production can be effectively coupled within the same valorization scheme and that their integration also results in sugar maximization after biological pretreatment. The alginate extraction and purification process resulted in high polymer yields (38.75% ± 0.93 dry weight). The final product was found to be free of toxic elements opening the doors for its application in different fields. Lastly, Sargassum sugars extracts did not inhibit the growth of Yarrowia lipolytica, an oleaginous yeast, suggesting that they can be subsequently converted into biofuels.
- The energy use of the macroalga pelagic Sargassum in the Mexican Caribbean(Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) García Dorantes, José Gil; MEMBRILLO HERNANDEZ, JORGE; 21703; Membrillo Hernández, Jorge; puelquio, emipsanchez; Benjamín Ordóñez Díaz, José Antonio; Membrillo Hernández, Jorge; Ganem Corvera, Ricardo; Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias; Campus Ciudad de MéxicoThe potential of the pelagic Sargassum as feedstock for energy and substrates production is evaluated from an engineering point of view to determine if the macroalgae is a source of renewable biomass at a large-industrial level. This alternative could be a solution to mitigation and adaptation for the influx problem in the Caribbean coastline of Mexico (and other Caribbean countries). Recent research and experiments suggest that macroalgae can be processed by biorefinery systems like Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) that makes suitable the use of the Pelagic Sargassum as a source of renewable energy and a substrate of potential products and services. Two different process scenarios, with or without a heat exchanger unit, are simulated in Aspen Plus to evaluate the physical, chemical, and cost feasibility of the macroalga continuous HTL to obtain bio-crude oil, an aqueous phase, gaseous phase, and char, as valuable products at an industrial production with a potential use such as biofuel, and fertilizer. Both cases are thermodynamically, energetically, and economically evaluated with a macroalga sludge feedstock of 2.79 M t/year, a total product sales of $14.94 M USD/year, and a payback period of 5.54 years in one of the scenarios considering the total capital, and utility costs of the integrated system and its boundaries. The production of 1.87 PJ/year of energy equates to 0.05% of Mexico's primary energy production from crude oil in 2019. This study stands for an opportunity for adaptation and mitigation of the problem that is affecting the Caribbean zone, as well as for an opportunity of synergy between the scientific, private, and government sectors.