Characterization and Evaluation of Substratum Material Selection for Microalgal Biofilm Cultivation

Overview

Journal Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
Biotechnology
Microbiology

Date 2023 Mar 16

PMID 36922440

Authors

Chunli Ji

Hui Wang

Hongli Cui

Chunhui Zhang

Runzhi Li

Tianzhong Liu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Biofilm cultivation is considered a promising method to achieve higher microalgae biomass productivity with less water consumption and easier harvest compared to conventional suspended cultivation. However, studies focusing on the selection of substratum material and optimization of the growth of certain microalgae species on specific substratum are limited. This study investigated the selection of membranous and fabric fiber substrata for the attachment of unicellular microalgae Scenedesmus dimorphus and filamentous microalgae Tribonema minus in biofilm cultivation. The results indicated that both algal species preferred hydrophilic membranous substrata and nitrate cellulose/cellulose acetate membrane (CN-CA) was selected as a suitable candidate on which the obtained biomass yields were up to 10.24 and 7.81 g m day for S. dimorphus and T. minus, respectively. Furthermore, high-thread cotton fiber (HCF) and low-thread polyester fiber (LPEF) were verified as the potential fabric fiber substrata for S. dimorphus (5.42 g m day) and T. minus (5.49 g m day) attachment, respectively. The regrowth of microalgae biofilm cultivation strategy was applied to optimize the algae growth on the fabric fiber substrata, with higher biomass density and shear resistibility achieved for both algal species. The present data highlight the importance to establish the standards for selection the suitable substratum materials in ensuring the high efficiency and sustainability of the attached microalgal biomass production. KEY POINTS: • CN-CA was suitable membranous substratum candidate for algal biofilm cultivation. • HCF and LPEF were potential fabric fiber substrata for S. dimorphus and T. minus. • Regrowth biofilm cultivation was effective in improving algal biomass and attachment.

Citing Articles

Cultivation of microalgae in food processing effluent for pollution attenuation and astaxanthin production: a review of technological innovation and downstream application.

Zhang X, Lu Q Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024; 12:1365514.

PMID: 38572356 PMC: 10987718. DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1365514.

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