Exploring the dynamics of astaxanthin production in Haematococcus pluvialis biofilms using a rotating biofilm‐based system

Abstract

Microalgae biofilm emerged as a solid alternative to conventional suspended cultures which present high operative costs and complex harvesting processes. Among several designs, rotating biofilm‐based systems stand out for their scalability, although their primary applications have been in wastewater treatment and aquaculture. In this work, a rotating system was utilized to produce a high‐value compound (astaxanthin) using Haematococcus pluvialis biofilms. The effect of nitrogen regime, light intensity, and light history on biofilm traits was assessed to better understand how to efficiently operate the system. Our results show that H. pluvialis biofilms follow the classical growth stages described for bacterial biofilms (from adhesion to maturation) and that a two‐stage (green and red stages) allowed to reach astaxanthin productivities of 204 mg m−2 d−1. The higher light intensity applied during the red stage (400 and 800 µmol m−2 s−1) combined with nitrogen depletion stimulated similar astaxanthin productivities. However, by training the biofilms during the green stage, using mild‐light intensity (200 µmol m−2 s−1), a process known as priming, the final astaxanthin productivity was enhanced by 40% with respect to biofilms pre‐exposed to 50 µmol m−2 s−1. Overall, this study shows the possibility of utilizing rotating microalgae biofilms to produce high‐value compounds laying the foundation for further biotechnological applications of these emerging systems.