Abstract Microalgae are considered as promising feedstocks for the third generation of biofuels. They are autotrophic organisms with high growth rate and can stock an enormous quantity of lipids (about 20 - 40% of their dried cellular weight). This work was aimed at studying the cultivation of Scenedesmus obliquus in a two-stage system composed of a photobioreactor and a settler to concentrate and partially recycle the biomass as a way to enhance the microalgae cellular productivity. It was attempted to specify by simulation and experimental data a relationship between the recycling rate, kinetic parameters of microalgal growth and photobioreactor operating conditions. Scenedesmus obliquus cells were cultivated in a lab-scale flat-plate reactor, homogenized by aeration, and running in continuous flow with a residence time of 1.66 day. Experimental data for the microalgal growth were used in a semi-empirical simulation model. The best results were obtained for Fw=0.2FI, when R = 1 and kd = 0 and 0.05 day-1, with the biomass production in the reactor varying between 8 g L -1 and 14 g L-1, respectively. The mathematical model fitted to the microalgal growth experimental data was appropriate for predicting the efficiency of the reactor in producing Scenedesmus obliquus cells, establishing a relation between cellular productivity and the minimum recycling rate that must be used in the system.

The feasibility of deterpenating orange peel oil with supercritical CO2 depends on relevant vapor-liquid equilibrium data because the selectivity of this solvent for limonene and linalool (the two key components of the oil) is of crucial importance. The vapor-liquid equilibrium data of the CO2-limonene binary system was measured at 50, 60 and 70oC and pressures up to 10 MPa, and of the CO2-linalool binary system at 50oC and pressures up to 85 bar. These results were compared with published data when available in the literature. The unpublished ternary phase equilibrium of CO2-limonene-linalool was studied at 50oC and up to 9 MPa. Selectivities obtained using these ternary data were compared with those calculated using binary data and indicate that a selective separation of limonene and linalool can be achieved.