Raquel Jimenez Prieto

Ms. Raquel Jimenez Prieto

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

8Years (2019-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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3 June 2020 in Applied Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
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RPRaquel Jimenez Prieto
Raquel Jimenez Prieto
Giorgos MarkouGiorgos Markou
Giorgos Markou
STSaida Tayibi
Saida Tayibi
Abdellatif BARAKATAbdellatif BARAKAT
Abdellatif BARAKAT
CCCamille Chapsal
Camille Chapsal
Florian MonlauFlorian Monlau
Florian Monlau
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a process that is well-known and fast-developing in Europe. AD generates large amounts of digestate, especially in livestock-intensive areas. Digestate has potential environmental issues due to nutrients (such as nitrogen) lixiviation or volatilization. Using liquid digestate as a nutrient source for microalgae growth is considered beneficial because digestate could be valorized and upgraded by the production of an added value product. In this work, microalgal biomass produced using liquid digestate from an agricultural biogas plant was investigated as a slow-release fertilizer in tomatoes. Monoraphidium sp. was first cultivated at different dilutions (1:20, 1:30, 1:50), in indoor laboratory-scale trials. The optimum dilution factor was determined to be 1:50, with a specific growth rate of 0.13 d−1 and a complete nitrogen removal capacity in 25 days of culture. Then, outdoor experiments were conducted in a 110 dm3 vertical, closed photobioreactors (PBRs) in batch and semi-continuous mode with 1:50 diluted liquid digestate. During the batch mode, the microalgae were able to remove almost all NH4+ and 65 (±13) % of PO43−, while the microalgal growth rate reached 0.25 d−1. After the batch mode, the cultures were switched to operate under semi-continuously conditions. The cell densities were maintained at 1.3 × 107 cells mL−1 and a biomass productivity around 38.3 mg TSS L−1 d−1 during three weeks was achieved, where after that it started to decline due to unfavorable weather conditions. Microalgae biomass was further tested as a fertilizer for tomatoes growth, enhancing by 32% plant growth in terms of dry biomass compared with the control trials (without fertilization). Similar performances were achieved in tomato growth using synthetic fertilizer or digestate. Finally, the leaching effect in soils columns without plant was tested and after 25 days, only 7% of N was leached when microalgae were used, against 50% in the case of synthetic fertilizer.

1 February 2019 in Journal of Hazardous Materials
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
ACAlberto Clemente
Alberto Clemente
RPRaquel Jimenez Prieto
Raquel Jimenez Prieto
MEMaría del Mar Encabo-Berzosa
María del Mar Encabo-Berzosa
MLM. Pilar Lobera
M. Pilar Lobera
FBFrancisco Balas
Francisco Balas
JSJesus Santamaria
Jesus Santamaria