ABSTRACT The global biodiversity of microalgae is vast – tens of thousands of different species. Of these, a few thousand have been cultured and only a handful have been mass cultivated for biotechnology applications and live feeds for aquaculture. While the U.S. Department of Energy has recognised that properties of individual species and their strains are critical in the value chain from algae to energy products, there is limited knowledge and discussion of all but a few species in algal biotechnology applications. To date there is no formal mechanism to define the key properties of different algae and link multi-disciplinary information from biological, chemical, economic, environmental, geographical, and technological sources. In addition to a lack of practical classification systems, there is a lack of experiential knowledge regarding the potential of different species and strains of microalgae for growth, harvesting, processing and conversion into various products in different natural and industrial environments. To the authors’ knowledge, no knowledge system exists that links multi-disciplinary information from biological, chemical, economic, environmental, geographical, and technological sources. This lack of any practical database was confirmed recently by the USDoE: “Currently, no database(s) exists that would provide global information on the characteristics of currently available algal strains”. To overcome the above deficiencies, we are developing a knowledge management system (KMS) to address the complete supply chain, from strain selection for a location and growth conditions through to the delivery of final product(s) to the consumer. It is an integrated KMS designed to answer the what, how and where questions of algal bioenergy in a practical manner. Much of the knowledge captured in the system is relational. Relational knowledge links the characteristics of each strain – such as biochemical composition, growth parameters, size, shape and robustness – to various downstream processes like an appropriate growth medium and suitable methods of harvesting, dewatering and oil extraction. Many choices must be made when arranging the whole supply chain from algal selection and growth to final product. Our KMS will be designed to make these choices clearer and to emphasise their interdependent character. Reference: |