{"id":181104,"date":"2026-09-15T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T05:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=181104"},"modified":"2026-09-09T10:49:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:49:06","slug":"texas-students-science-fair-project-offers-new-algae-biofuel-insights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/texas-students-science-fair-project-offers-new-algae-biofuel-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas student\u2019s science fair project offers new algae biofuel insights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

A science lesson on biomass led a seventh-grade student in Texas to develop an experiment with implications for algae-based biofuel production. Arya Hirsave attends Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin. She became interested in algae after learning about renewable and non-renewable energy in class.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Her research examined whether microscopic algae could be encouraged to grow more efficiently and produce more lipids, or oils, for use as a biofuel feedstock. The project, titled \u201cMicro\u2019fat\u2019ories: Increasing Microalgal Biomass and Lipids for Biofuel Production,\u201d was selected as a finalist for the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hirsave tested four types of microalgae: Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis chuii<\/em>. The first two are freshwater species, while the other two are saltwater algae. Initial tests found that Chlorella vulgaris and Nannochloropsis grew fastest, prompting her to examine whether changing growing conditions could improve both growth and lipid production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She tested vitamins B and C, along with plant hormones, to see whether they could boost growth. The vitamins supported photosynthesis and increased growth by 6 to 7%. Adding salt to freshwater algae had a different effect, slowing growth but increasing lipid production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That finding led Hirsave to combine both approaches at different stages. In her most notable experiment, algae were treated with vitamins for three days to support growth, then exposed to high salt levels for two days. The five-day treatment increased lipid production by 77%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings do not establish a commercial biofuel process. Further research would be needed to test whether the approach holds up at a larger scale. Hirsave has participated in science fairs since third grade and hopes to become an astrophysicist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A science lesson on biomass led a seventh-grade student in Texas to develop an experiment with implications for algae-based biofuel production. Arya Hirsave attends Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin. She became interested in algae after learning about renewable and non-renewable energy in class. Her research examined whether microscopic algae could be encouraged to grow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":181117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Algae were treated with vitamins for three days to support growth, then exposed to high salt levels for two days, which five-day treatment increased lipid production by 77%","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[7190,22614,5714,5842,10477],"supplier":[28516,28519,28517],"class_list":["post-181104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-algae","tag-biofeedstocks","tag-biofuels","tag-biomass","tag-microalgae","supplier-arya-hirsave-society-for-science","supplier-canyon-vista-middle-school-austin","supplier-society-for-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181128,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181104\/revisions\/181128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181104"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=181104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}