Porous Substrate Bioreactors: A Paradigm Shift in Microalgal Biotechnology?

Podola, Björn; Li, Tong; Melkonian, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2016.06.004

Cited by 128 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The growth of algae using bicarbonate as a method to sequester carbon dioxide has previously been suggested [9–11]. Growth in biofilms reduces energy and costs of biomass growth and harvesting as compared to suspended cultivation due to the lower cultivation volume and higher biomass densities [14, 15]. To harvest algal biomass from a suspended culture, the culture is commonly concentrated via sedimentation or flocculation to around 1% (dry basis) then further concentration using centrifugation to 20% (dry basis) [16, 17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robust, high-productivity phototrophic carbon capture at high pH and alkalinity using natural microbial communities

Sharp

Urschel

Dong

et al. 2017

Biotechnol Biofuels

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BackgroundBioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has come to be seen as one of the most viable technologies to provide the negative carbon dioxide emissions needed to constrain global temperatures. In practice, algal biotechnology is the only form of BECCS that could be realized at scale without compromising food production. Current axenic algae cultivation systems lack robustness, are expensive and generally have marginal energy returns.ResultsHere it is shown that microbial communities sampled from alkaline soda lakes, grown as biofilms at high pH (up to 10) and high alkalinity (up to 0.5 kmol m−3 NaHCO3 and NaCO3) display excellent (>1.0 kg m−3 day−1) and robust (>80 days) biomass productivity, at low projected overall costs. The most productive biofilms contained >100 different species and were dominated by a cyanobacterium closely related to Phormidium kuetzingianum (>60%).ConclusionFrequent harvesting and red light were the key factors that governed the assembly of a stable and productive microbial community.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-017-0769-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robust, high-productivity phototrophic carbon capture at high pH and alkalinity using natural microbial communities

Sharp

Urschel

Dong

et al. 2017

Biotechnol Biofuels

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“…90552). The function of the support is to mediate the diffusion of dissolved chemicals between media baths and cultures, which is equivalent to the function of the porous membrane in porous substrate photobioreactors (PSBRs) (Podola et al, ). The diffusion of dissolved nutrients from media into hydrogel cultures was driven by cell consumption, since evaporative volume loss of media baths was <0.5 mL/day.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Photobioreactors provide a route to produce valuable bioproducts as well as reduce global dependence on fossil fuels. Conventional suspension culture cultivation in pilot‐plant photobioreactors, however, has not economically produced biomass for biofuels, due to high water management costs and poor light and CO 2 access (Christenson and Sims, ; Liu et al, ; Norsker et al, ; Podola et al, ; Ruiz et al, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrogel‐immobilized microalgal cultures have gained traction in applications that require the separation of culture and media, mainly for wastewater reclamation (Mallick, ; Moreno‐Garrido, ), but also for biomass generation and biofuel production (Kosourov and Seibert, ; Lam and Lee, ; Meunier et al, ; Singh, ; Therien et al, ). Microalgal hydrogels offer the same fixed‐culture benefits as biofilms for biomass production: low water content, high‐density growth, photoacclimation for improved light access, and air‐exposed cultivation for improved CO 2 access (Lau et al, ; Pane et al, ; Podola et al, ; Schlichting and Gersten, ). In addition, microalgae in hydrogels have exhibited comparable or higher concentrations of chlorophyll and carotenoids; a greater variety of lipids, (De‐Bashan et al, ; Jiménez‐Pérez et al, ; Lau et al, ); lower senescence (Singh, ); and comparable growth rates, lag times, and light utilization efficiencies (Kosourov and Seibert, ) relative to that of suspension cultures (Mallick, ; Moreno‐Garrido, ; Pane et al, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Periodic harvesting of microalgae from calcium alginate hydrogels for sustained high‐density production

Pierobon

Riordon

Nguyen

et al. 2017

Biotech & Bioengineering

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High-density biomass production is currently only realized in biofilm-based photobioreactors. Harvest yields of whole biofilms are self-limited by daughter-upon-parent cell growth that hinders light and leads to respiratory biomass losses. In this work, we demonstrate a sustainable multi-harvest approach for prolonged generation of high-density biomass. Calcium-alginate hydrogel cultures loaded with Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 achieved production densities comparable to that of biofilms (10 cells/mL) and optimal total productivity in harvest periods of 2 or 3 days that allowed high-density surface growth without self-limiting cell buildup or surface death. Cross-linking calcium concentration had a strong influence on surface growth and harvest yields, especially in the first harvests. Subsequent harvests achieved more uniform biomass yields and distributions, unaffected by bulk respiration or light penetration. Collectively, these results demonstrate the feasibility of sustained, high-density biomass production by periodic harvesting within microalgal hydrogel cultures. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 2023-2031. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…The medium is pumped up to the top of the surface and by gravity flows down meanwhile wetting the biofilm [49]. The medium is usually collected at the bottom of the surface and recycled to the system.…”

Section: Biofilm Based Photobioreactorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotechnological potential of an isolated and a known green microalgal strain and their cultivation in biofilm based reactors

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Porous Substrate Bioreactors: A Paradigm Shift in Microalgal Biotechnology?

Cited by 128 publications

References 71 publications

Robust, high-productivity phototrophic carbon capture at high pH and alkalinity using natural microbial communities

Robust, high-productivity phototrophic carbon capture at high pH and alkalinity using natural microbial communities

Periodic harvesting of microalgae from calcium alginate hydrogels for sustained high‐density production

Biotechnological potential of an isolated and a known green microalgal strain and their cultivation in biofilm based reactors

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