Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2019-07-17"
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- Biotechnological applications of a promising marine chlorophyte (Tetraselmis SP. CTP4): a biorefinery approachPublication . Pereira, Hugo Galvão Caiano; Varela, J.; Gouveia, Luísa; Barreira, LuísaTetraselmis sp. CTP4 was selected from a bioprospection screening as a promising candidate for industrial cultivation and exploitation of different biotechnological applications. At lab-scale, several experiments revealed that this strain is highly robust to environmental conditions, has the ability to accumulate significant amounts of lipids under nitrogen depletion, displays also high growth and sedimentation rates. In collaboration with Allmicroalgae (Algafarm, Secil, Leiria, Portugal), experiments at industrial-scale in 100-m3 tubular photobioreactors showed that this strain is able to attain promising areal productivities, remaining a monoalgal culture throughout the whole trial. Thereafter, a low-cost pilot-scale harvesting system enabled the recovery of 97% of the total biomass by natural sedimentation, reducing the harvesting costs by 93%. Biochemical characterization of industrially produced biomass revealed a high content of proteins and dietary fibres as well as interesting levels of chlorophyll, carotenoids and vitamins, whereas microbial pathogens and contaminants analysed were absent from the biomass. Later, upon the development of a biorefinery platform, the wet biomass was extracted with ethanol and fractionated using a liquid-liquid triphasic system, leading to four different streams: non-polar (NP), colloidal (CP) and water (WP) phases as well as the residual biomass (RB) leftover of the ethanolic extraction. The CP was characterized as a source of high value molecules, while the NP, WP and RB were successfully upgraded into biodiesel, bioethanol and biogas, respectively. The RB was also tested as an ingredient for juvenile seabream, showing to be a promising substitute to replace soybean meal in aquafeeds. Overall, Tetraselmis sp. CTP4 was successfully produced at industrial scale, a low-cost harvesting system was established, and the produced biomass had a promising composition suitable for prospective nutritional applications. In addition, the biorefinery approach implemented led to the production of different streams that were effectively upgraded into different bioproducts, namely biofuels and aquaculture feed.
- Joining geotourism with cultural tourism: a good blendPublication . Rosendahl, Stefan; Marçal Gonçalves, MartaThe Algarvian coast (Southern Portugal) is known for its beaches. However, many tourists don’t want to spend their whole holidays only at the beach, so cultural tourism can fill a gap together with natural tourism. Important branches of natural tourism of Algarve are birdwatching and guided tours, which may include visits to geologically interesting sites (Geotourism). These activities are aimed to people with sporting and scientific interests. Algarve has a big potential for Geotourism due to the large number of geologically interesting places and areas. Geotouristic activities joined with the observation or visit of cultural, mainly vernacular subjects (for instance: terraces and cultural landscapes, agricultural and ethnological traditions, villages) result in a more complete touristic offer than each part isolated and can be done all over the year. The creation of a Geopark by UNESCO, for instance, includes both natural and cultural heritage. Like the cultural heritage, the geological heritage should be valorized by tracking paths for hiking with information tables, guided visits, folders and so on, to be disseminated by the tourist information offices, apps, new technologies, hotels and other touristic installations. When touristic activities lead to a better knowledge of the natural and cultural sites, their conservation may be easier, because the local residents are getting conscious about their value. Regular visits of the sites are used to control their condition. Thus, Geotourism and cultural tourism contribute to the preservation of the geological heritage and the landscape, which is also an environmental and cultural heritage.