A Mini Review on Microalgae Biomass Production: Recent Progress in Cultivation Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
ISMAIL RASEL ◽  
SAYDUL KARIM

Single-celled photosynthetic microscopic algae (microalgae) have numerous significances for human wellbeing. From medicine to fuel industry these tiny organisms have tremendous potentials and in future they would be game changer to mitigate global warming and environmental pollutions. The current production cost is a matter of consideration during its applications. Scientists all over the world are trying to reduce the production costs as well as to develop new or improve the existing culturing methodologies and techniques. Open pond and closed pond (PBRs) culturing system are two most prominent ways to culture microalgae. Open pond culturing techniques for microalgae have several advantages over closed pond system such as low operational costs and easy to make. However, the main drawback of this system is contamination by other microorganisms, which is possible to control in closed pond system. Among the many types of PBRs systems, the advanced tubular PBRs presently considered as more useful than open pond culture system. To meet the minimum production costs, more research is needed on both the culturing systems.

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole Balthazar ◽  
David L. Joly ◽  
Martin Filion

Among the oldest domesticated crops, cannabis plants (Cannabis sativa L., marijuana and hemp) have been used to produce food, fiber, and drugs for thousands of years. With the ongoing legalization of cannabis in several jurisdictions worldwide, a new high-value market is emerging for the supply of marijuana and hemp products. This creates unprecedented challenges to achieve better yields and environmental sustainability, while lowering production costs. In this review, we discuss the opportunities and challenges pertaining to the use of beneficial Pseudomonas spp. bacteria as crop inoculants to improve productivity. The prevalence and diversity of naturally occurring Pseudomonas strains within the cannabis microbiome is overviewed, followed by their potential mechanisms involved in plant growth promotion and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Emphasis is placed on specific aspects relevant for hemp and marijuana crops in various production systems. Finally, factors likely to influence inoculant efficacy are provided, along with strategies to identify promising strains, overcome commercialization bottlenecks, and design adapted formulations. This work aims at supporting the development of the cannabis industry in a sustainable way, by exploiting the many beneficial attributes of Pseudomonas spp.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 175
Author(s):  
Priyanka Prakash ◽  
Wing-Hin Lee ◽  
Ching-Yee Loo ◽  
Hau Seung Jeremy Wong ◽  
Thaigarajan Parumasivam

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural polymers produced under specific conditions by certain organisms, primarily bacteria, as a source of energy. These up-and-coming bioplastics are an undeniable asset in enhancing the effectiveness of drug delivery systems, which demand characteristics like non-immunogenicity, a sustained and controlled drug release, targeted delivery, as well as a high drug loading capacity. Given their biocompatibility, biodegradability, modifiability, and compatibility with hydrophobic drugs, PHAs often provide a superior alternative to free drug therapy or treatments using other polymeric nanocarriers. The many formulation methods of existing PHA nanocarriers, such as emulsion solvent evaporation, nanoprecipitation, dialysis, and in situ polymerization, are explained in this review. Due to their flexibility that allows for a vessel tailormade to its intended application, PHA nanocarriers have found their place in diverse therapy options like anticancer and anti-infective treatments, which are among the applications of PHA nanocarriers discussed in this article. Despite their many positive attributes, the advancement of PHA nanocarriers to clinical trials of drug delivery applications has been stunted due to the polymers’ natural hydrophobicity, controversial production materials, and high production costs, among others. These challenges are explored in this review, alongside their existing solutions and alternatives.


2012 ◽  
pp. 133-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Borowitzka ◽  
Navid Reza Moheimani

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (20) ◽  
pp. 4653
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Mármol ◽  
Christian Gauss ◽  
Raul Fangueiro

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) have attracted the attention of many engineering fields and offered excellent mechanical and physical properties as polymer reinforcement. However, their application in composite products with high material demand is complex due to the current production costs. This work explores the use of cellulose microfibers (MF) obtained by a straightforward water dispersion of kraft paper to reinforce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and polylactic acid (PLA) films. To assess the influence of this type of filler material on the properties of biopolymers, films were cast and reinforced at different scales, with both CNC and MF separately, to compare their effectiveness. Regarding mechanical properties, CNC has a better reinforcing effect on the tensile strength of PLA samples, though up to 20 wt.% of MF may also lead to stronger PLA films. Moreover, PHA films reinforced with MF are 23% stronger than neat PHA samples. This gain in strength is accompanied by an increment of the stiffness of the material. Additionally, the addition of MF leads to an increase in the crystallinity of PHA that can be controlled by heat treatment followed by quenching. This change in the crystallinity of PHA affects the hygroscopicity of PHA samples, allowing the modification of the water barrier properties according to the required features. The addition of MF to both types of polymers also increases the surface roughness of the films, which may contribute to obtaining better interlaminar bonding in multi-layer composite applications. Due to the partial lignin content in MF from kraft paper, samples reinforced with MF present a UV blocking effect. Therefore, MF from kraft paper may be explored as a way to introduce high fiber concentrations (up to 20 wt.%) from other sources of recycled paper into biocomposite manufacturing with economic and technical benefits.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. C. Morais ◽  
R. L. L. Ribeiro ◽  
K. R. Santos ◽  
D. M. Taher ◽  
A. B. Mariano ◽  
...  

The Brazilian National Program for Biofuel Production has been encouraging diversification of feedstock for biofuel production. One of the most promising alternatives is the use of microalgae biomass for biofuel production. The cultivation of microalgae is conducted in aquatic systems, therefore microalgae oil production does not compete with agricultural land. Microalgae have greater photosynthetic efficiency than higher plants and are efficient fixing CO2. The challenge is to reduce production costs, which can be minimized by increasing productivity and oil biomass. Aiming to increase the production of microalgae biomass, mixotrophic cultivation, with the addition of glycerol has been shown to be very promising. During the production of biodiesel from microalgae there is availability of glycerol as a side product of the transesterification reaction, which could be used as organic carbon source for microalgae mixotrophic growth, resulting in increased biomass productivity. In this paper, to study the effect of glycerol in experimental conditions, the batch culture of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum was performed in a 2-liter flask in a temperature and light intensity controlled room. During 16 days of cultivation, the number of cells per ml was counted periodically in a Neubauer chamber. The calculation of dry biomass in the control experiment (without glycerol) was performed every two days by vacuum filtration. In the dry biomass mixotrophic experiment with glycerol concentration of 1.5 M, the number of cells was assessed similarly in the 10th and 14th days of cultivation. Through a volume element methodology, a mathematical model was written to calculate the microalgae growth rate. Was used an equation that describes the influence of irradiation and concentration of nutrients in the growth of microalgae. A simulation time of 16 days was used in the computations, with initial concentration of 0.1 g l-1. In order to compare simulation data with experimental data, we calculated the dry weight in 8 points in the course of sixteen days. In this way, it was possible to assess graphically biomass concentration versus time through the experiments and by numerical simulation. It was identified that the simulation results were consistent with the experiments and that the addition of glycerol greatly influenced the growth of microalgae. In the present analysis, the glycerol added increased 30% in biomass.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-89 ◽  

<p>New challenges for industrial microbiology and biotechnology of algae are to increase the efficiency of microalgae growth rates and decrease the cultivation costs. Algae could be cultivated in fresh water as well as in salty sea water or wastewater. Microalgae biomass can be used as a sorbent to remove microcontaminants (e.g. heavy metals, biogens) from wastewater. The obtained results showed that there is a possibility of application of a cheap and universal growing medium (Bf) despite common fertilizers: Bristol or BG-11 to cultivate Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus armatus. The mixotrophic condition can be useful for cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus armatus. The highest concentrations of algal biomass for both species were determined after the application of the Bf medium, lower after the BG-11 medium and the lowest after the Br medium in autotrophic as well as mixotrophic conditions. The number of C. vulgaris cells in mixotrophic conditions was higher than S. armatus. The utilization of cheap growing media will lowering the production costs of algal biomass on a large scale.</p>


1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
MN Mondal ◽  
J Shahin ◽  
MA Wahab ◽  
M Asaduzzaman ◽  
Y Yang

An experiment was conducted to compare production and economic performance of Thai Climbing Perch (Anabas testudineus) and Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) under three management systems. The nursed juveniles of Thai Climbing Perch (6.22 ± 0.15g) and Tilapia (22.52 ± 0.73g) were stocked at 50 Thai Climbing Perch per 1m3 cage and 50 Tilapia per 80m2 open pond (Caged Perch); 50 Tilapia per 1m3 cage and 50 Thai Climbing Perch per 80 m2 open pond (Caged Tilapia); and both 50 Thai Climbing Perch and 50 Tilapia per 80m2 pond (Mixed culture) as three treatments with three replicates for each. Pelleted feed (35% crude protein) was given twice daily (8.0 h and 16.0 h) at a rate of 10% body weight of Thai Climbing Perch for first month and 5% body weight of Thai Climbing Perch for rest of the culture period (90 days) to cages for the integrated cage-pond culture and to open ponds for the mixed culture. Among the measured water quality parameters transparency (cm), alkalinity (mg l-1), nitrite-nitrogen (mg l-1), and chlorophyll-a (μg l-1) were significantly different among the treatments. A total of 43 genera of phytoplankton and 16 genera of zooplankton were identified from the pond water. The mean abundance of total macro-benthic organisms was not significantly different (P>0.05). The mean survival rate of Thai Climbing Perch was high, ranging from 86.67% to 98.67%. Gross yield of Thai Climbing Perch was the highest in the Caged Perch. Survival of Tilapia was also high, ranging from 94.00% to 96.67%. The combined FCRs were 0.75, 0.77 and 0.85 in the Caged Perch, Mixed culture and Caged Tilapia systems, respectively. Economic analysis revealed that a significantly higher (P<0.05) cost-benefit ratio was obtained in the Caged Perch treatment. Therefore, it is concluded that the integrated cage-pond culture system with the high-valued Thai Climbing Perch in cages and low-valued Tilapia in open ponds may be a better option for rural pond aquaculture considering the production and economic benefit. Keyword: Cage culture; Integrated aquaculture; Climbing Perch; Tilapia DOI: 10.3329/jbau.v8i2.7943 J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 8(2): 313-322, 2010  


2017 ◽  
Vol 07 (03) ◽  
pp. 195-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandita Barua Singha ◽  
Ujjwal Kumar Deb ◽  
Mushfique Shahriar
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Victoria Saad ◽  
Björn Gutschmann ◽  
Thomas Grimm ◽  
Torsten Widmer ◽  
Peter Neubauer ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective The rapid accumulation of crude-oil based plastics in the environment is posing a fundamental threat to the future of mankind. The biodegradable and bio-based polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) can replace conventional plastics, however, their current production costs are not competitive and therefore prohibiting PHAs from fulfilling their potential. Results Different low-quality animal by-products, which were separated by thermal hydrolysis into a fat-, fat/protein-emulsion- and mineral-fat-mixture- (material with high ash content) phase, were successfully screened as carbon sources for the production of PHA. Thereby, Ralstonia eutropha Re2058/pCB113 accumulated the short- and medium-chain-length copolymer poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(HB-co-HHx)]. Up to 90 wt% PHA per cell dry weight with HHx-contents of 12–26 mol% were produced in shake flask cultivations. Conclusion In future, the PHA production cost could be lowered by using the described animal by-product streams as feedstock. Graphical abstract


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