Although fossil fuels remain the main source of energy, the volume of renewable sources of energy is constantly increasing. Biodiesel is a promising alternative fuel due to the number of advantages compared to fossil fuel and other types of biofuel. The specific objective of this study was to identify the difference between conventional and novel technologies applied during the whole life cycle of biodiesel production and consumption. The study offers some important insights into the recent advances in the biodiesel industry including biodiesel production from microalgal lipids, advanced homogenous and enzymatic transesterification, non-catalytic supercritical transesterification, application of microwave and ultrasound assisting technologies. Considering all the factors affecting the efficiency and safety of the biodiesel production process, here we reviewed the main principals and recent achievements in the environmental life cycle assessment of biodiesel production and consumption. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Nanoparticles (NPs) have various applications in medicine, cosmetics, optics, catalysis, environmental purification, and other areas nowadays. With an increasing annual production of NPs, the risks of their harmful influence to the environment and human health is rising. Currently, our knowledge about the mechanisms of interaction between NPs and living organisms is limited. Additionally, poor understanding of how physical and chemical characteristic and different conditions influence the toxicity of NPs restrict our attempts to develop the standards and regulations which might allow us to maintain safe living conditions. The marine species and their habitat environment are under continuous stress due to anthropogenic activities which result in the appearance of NPs in the aquatic environment. Our study aimed to evaluate and compare biochemical effects caused by the influence of different types of carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and silica nanotubes on four marine microalgae species. We evaluated the changes in growth-rate, esterase activity, membrane polarization, and size changes of microalgae cells using flow cytometry method. Our results demonstrated that toxic effects caused by the carbon nanotubes strongly correlated with the content of heavy metal impurities in the NPs. More hydrophobic carbon NPs with less ordered structure had a higher impact on the red microalgae P. purpureum because of higher adherence between the particles and mucous covering of the algae. Silica NPs caused significant inhibition of microalgae growth-rate predominantly produced by mechanical influence.

This work represents a comparative metabolomic study of extracts of wild grapes obtained from six different places in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories (Far East Russia) and extracts of grapes obtained from the collection of N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (St. Petersburg). The metabolome analysis was performed by liquid chromatography in combination with ion trap mass spectrometry. The results showed the presence of 118 compounds in ethanolic extracts of V. amurensis grapes. In addition, several metabolites were newly annotated in V. amurensis. The highest diversity of phenolic compounds was identified in the samples of the V. amurensis grape collected in the vicinity of Vyazemsky (Khabarovsk Territory) and the floodplain of the Arsenyevka River (Primorsky Territory), compared to the other wild samples and cultural grapes obtained in the collection of N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources.

The world biodiesel production is increasing at a rapid rate. Despite its perceived safety for the environment, more detailed toxicity studies are mandatory, especially in the field of aquatic toxicology. While considerable attention has been paid to biodiesel combustion emissions, the toxicity of biodiesel in the aquatic environment has been poorly understood. In our study, we used an algae culture growth-inhibition test (OECD 201) for the comparison of the toxicity of B100 (pure biodiesel), produced by methanol transesterification of waste cooking oil (yellow grease), B0 (petroleum diesel fuel) and B20 (diesel-biodiesel blended of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel fuel by volume). Two marine diatoms Attheya ussuriensis and Chaetoceros muelleri, the red algae Porphyridium purpureum and Raphidophyte Heterosigma akashiwo were employed as the aquatic test organisms. A sample of biodiesel from waste cooking oil without dilution with petroleum diesel (B100) showed the highest level of toxicity for the microalgae A. ussuriensis, C. muelleri and H. akashiwo, compared to hexane, methanol, petroleum diesel (B0) and diluted sample (B20). The acute EC50 in the growth-inhibition test (96 h exposure) of B100 for the four species was in the range of 3.75-23.95 g/L whereas the chronic toxicity EC50 (7d exposure) was in the range of 0.42-16.09 g/L.