The Use of Light Spectra to Improve the Growth and Lipid Content of Chlorella vulgaris for Biofuels Production

Sánchez‐Saavedra, M. del Pilar; Sauceda, D.; Castro-Ochoa, Fátima Y.; Molina-Cárdenas, Ceres A.

doi:10.1007/s12155-019-10070-1

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…For C. brevispina, under optimum conditions, cell concentrations were observed reaching 10 6 cells/ml (Hoham et al, 1979;Harrold et al, 2018), and for D. salina, the highest cell concentrations reached 10 6 -10 7 cells/ml under laboratory conditions (García et al, 2006;Hadi et al, 2008;Ahmed et al, 2017). For C. vulgaris, the maximum growth under optimum conditions was also observed to range from 10 6 to 10 7 cells/ml under laboratory conditions (Mandalam and Palsson, 1995;Adamczyk et al, 2016;Sánchez-Saavedra et al, 2020). The ability of our candidate algae species to grow under low pressure conditions and reach cell concentrations close to maximum cell counts observed for these species under optimum conditions, makes them excellent candidates to be used for BLSS.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The low-pressure environment inside the chamber was generated by a Labconco direct-drive rotary vane vacuum pump (Model 117, LABCONCO). The pump has 117 (LPM) free air capacity with a vacuum to single mbar levels ( SlickVacSeal, 2020 ). For the lowest pressure experiments at 80 mbar, instead of using the SlickVacSeal gauge, the pressure was monitored using a high sensitivity vacuum gauge (Ashcroft) that can measure –30–0 Hg (0–1014 mbar) vacuum with ± 0.25% accuracy to ensure accurate measurement of the low-pressure environment ( SlickVacSeal, 2020 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the Growth of Algae Under Low Atmospheric Pressures for Potential Food and Oxygen Production on Mars

et al. 2021

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With long-term missions to Mars and beyond that would not allow resupply, a self-sustaining Bioregenerative Life Support System (BLSS) is essential. Algae are promising candidates for BLSS due to their completely edible biomass, fast growth rates and ease of handling. Extremophilic algae such as snow algae and halophilic algae may also be especially suited for a BLSS because of their ability to grow under extreme conditions. However, as indicated from over 50 prior space studies examining algal growth, little is known about the growth of algae at close to Mars-relevant pressures. Here, we explored the potential for five algae species to produce oxygen and food under low-pressure conditions relevant to Mars. These included Chloromonas brevispina, Kremastochrysopsis austriaca, Dunaliella salina, Chlorella vulgaris, and Spirulina plantensis. The cultures were grown in duplicate in a low-pressure growth chamber at 670 ± 20 mbar, 330 ± 20 mbar, 160 ± 20 mbar, and 80 ± 2.5 mbar pressures under continuous light exposure (62–70 μmol m–2 s–1). The atmosphere was evacuated and purged with CO2 after sampling each week. Growth experiments showed that D. salina, C. brevispina, and C. vulgaris were the best candidates to be used for BLSS at low pressure. The highest carrying capacities for each species under low pressure conditions were achieved by D. salina at 160 mbar (30.0 ± 4.6 × 105 cells/ml), followed by C. brevispina at 330 mbar (19.8 ± 0.9 × 105 cells/ml) and C. vulgaris at 160 mbar (13.0 ± 1.5 × 105 cells/ml). C. brevispina, D. salina, and C. vulgaris all also displayed substantial growth at the lowest tested pressure of 80 mbar reaching concentrations of 43.4 ± 2.5 × 104, 15.8 ± 1.3 × 104, and 57.1 ± 4.5 × 104 cells per ml, respectively. These results indicate that these species are promising candidates for the development of a Mars-based BLSS using low pressure (∼200–300 mbar) greenhouses and inflatable structures that have already been conceptualized and designed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Growth of Algae Under Low Atmospheric Pressures for Potential Food and Oxygen Production on Mars

et al. 2021

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“…Jung et al found that green LED produced the highest lipid content while blue LED led to the highest biomass (Jung et al, 2019). By contrast, Sánchez-Saavedra et al found that the lipid content was much higher under blue light under exponential growth phase compared with white, green and yellow light (Sanchez-Saavedra et al, 2020). Feng et al investigated the effects of different light paths in a photobioreactor on the microalgal lipid content (Feng et al, 2020).…”

Section: Lightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing microalgal lipid accumulation for biofuel production

Zhu

Sun²,

Fei³

et al. 2022

Front. Microbiol.

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Microalgae have high lipid accumulation capacity, high growth rate and high photosynthetic efficiency which are considered as one of the most promising alternative sustainable feedstocks for producing lipid-based biofuels. However, commercialization feasibility of microalgal biofuel production is still conditioned to the high production cost. Enhancement of lipid accumulation in microalgae play a significant role in boosting the economics of biofuel production based on microalgal lipid. The major challenge of enhancing microalgal lipid accumulation lies in overcoming the trade-off between microalgal cell growth and lipid accumulation. Substantial approaches including genetic modifications of microalgal strains by metabolic engineering and process regulations of microalgae cultivation by integrating multiple optimization strategies widely applied in industrial microbiology have been investigated. In the present review, we critically discuss recent trends in the application of multiple molecular strategies to construct high performance microalgal strains by metabolic engineering and synergistic strategies of process optimization and stress operation to enhance microalgal lipid accumulation for biofuel production. Additionally, this review aims to emphasize the opportunities and challenges regarding scaled application of the strategic integration and its viability to make microalgal biofuel production a commercial reality in the near future.

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“…Recently, the addition of phenolics (particularly salicylic acid and aspirin) have been shown to stimulate cell division significantly in Chlamydomomas and may be a useful tool to achieve higher biomass in a shorter time period [26]. In Chlorella, growth rates show a doubling time of ~8 h [27]. The fastest growing alga is Picochlorum renovo that has a double time of just 2.2 h, which is ~5-10 times faster than many algae [28].…”

Section: Microalgae Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Key Targets for Improving Algal Biofuel Production

et al. 2021

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A number of technological challenges need to be overcome if algae are to be utilized for commercial fuel production. Current economic assessment is largely based on laboratory scale up or commercial systems geared to the production of high value products, since no industrial scale plant exits that are dedicated to algal biofuel. For macroalgae (‘seaweeds’), the most promising processes are anaerobic digestion for biomethane production and fermentation for bioethanol, the latter with levels exceeding those from sugar cane. Currently, both processes could be enhanced by increasing the rate of degradation of the complex polysaccharide cell walls to generate fermentable sugars using specifically tailored hydrolytic enzymes. For microalgal biofuel production, open raceway ponds are more cost-effective than photobioreactors, with CO2 and harvesting/dewatering costs estimated to be ~50% and up to 15% of total costs, respectively. These costs need to be reduced by an order of magnitude if algal biodiesel is to compete with petroleum. Improved economics could be achieved by using a low-cost water supply supplemented with high glucose and nutrients from food grade industrial wastewater and using more efficient flocculation methods and CO2 from power plants. Solar radiation of not <3000 h·yr−1 favours production sites 30° north or south of the equator and should use marginal land with flat topography near oceans. Possible geographical sites are discussed. In terms of biomass conversion, advances in wet technologies such as hydrothermal liquefaction, anaerobic digestion, and transesterification for algal biodiesel are presented and how these can be integrated into a biorefinery are discussed.

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The Use of Light Spectra to Improve the Growth and Lipid Content of Chlorella vulgaris for Biofuels Production

Cited by 10 publications

References 44 publications

Investigating the Growth of Algae Under Low Atmospheric Pressures for Potential Food and Oxygen Production on Mars

Investigating the Growth of Algae Under Low Atmospheric Pressures for Potential Food and Oxygen Production on Mars

Enhancing microalgal lipid accumulation for biofuel production

Key Targets for Improving Algal Biofuel Production

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