Search

Nutrient deprivation is a commonly-used trigger for microalgal lipid accumulation, but its adverse impact on microalgal growth seems to be inevitable. In this study, Scenedesmus sp. LX1 was found to show similar physiological and biochemical variation under oligotrophic and eutrophic conditions during growth with intracellular phosphorus. Under both conditions microalgal chlorophyll content and photosynthesis activity was stable during this growth process, leading to significant increase of single cell weight and size. Therefore, while algal density growth rate dropped significantly to below 1.0 × 10(5)cells mL(-1) d(-1) under oligotrophic condition, the biomass dry weight growth rate still maintained about 40 mg L(-1) d(-1). Meanwhile, the lipid content in biomass and triacylglycerols (TAGs) content in lipids increased significantly to about 35% and 65%, respectively. Thus, high biomass growth rate and high lipid/TAG content were achieved simultaneously at the late growth phase with intracellular phosphorus. Besides, microalgal biomass produced was rich in carbohydrate with low protein content., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The biomass and lipid/carbohydrate production by a green microalga Scenedesmus obliquus under mixotrophic condition using food wastewater and flue gas CO2 with municipal wastewater was investigated. Different dilution ratios (0.5-2%) of municipal wastewater with food wastewater were evaluated in the presence of 5, 10 and 14.1% CO2. The food wastewater (0.5-1%) with 10-14.1% CO2 supported the highest growth (0.42-0.44 g L(-1)), nutrient removal (21-22 mg TN L(-1)), lipid productivity (10-11 mg L(-1)day(-1)) and carbohydrate productivity (13-16 mg L(-1)day(-1)) by S. obliquus after 6 days of cultivation. Food wastewater increased the palmitic and oleic acid contents up to 8 and 6%, respectively. Thus, application of food wastewater and flue gas CO2 can be employed for enhancement of growth, lipid/carbohydrate productivity and wastewater treatment efficiency of S. obliquus under mixotrophic condition, which can lead to development of a cost effective strategy for microalgal biomass production., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Light intensity profiles inside an open tank were studied using ANSYS Fluent. Experiments were performed by taking Scenedesmus arcuatus, green microalgae at three different concentrations under actual sunlight conditions. Absorption of light intensity at different depths was measured experimentally. The results generated from CFD simulations were compared with the experimental results and the cornet model. It has been found that there is a good agreement between the light intensity profile obtained from the CFD simulation and that calculated using the Cornet's model. Light intensity profiles at different depths were calculated using CFD simulation by varying the dimensions of the tank. The effect of wall reflectivity, diffuse fraction and scattering phase function on light profile in side open tank are also studied using CFD simulation.

In this work, we studied the potential use of secondary-treated wastewater as nutrient source in the production of freshwater microalgae strains. Experiments were performed indoors in a semicontinuous mode, at 0.3 day(-1), simulating outdoor conditions. We demonstrated that all the tested strains can be produced by using only secondary-treated wastewater as the nutrient source. The utilization of secondary-treated wastewater imposes nutrient-limiting conditions, with maximal biomass productivity dropping to 0.5 g l(-1) day(-1) and modifies the biochemical composition of the biomass by increasing the amount of lipids and carbohydrates while reducing the biomass protein content. We measured fatty acid content and productivity of up to 25 %d.wt. and 110 mg l(-1) day(-1), respectively. We demonstrated that all the tested strains were capable of completely removing the nitrogen and phosphorus contained in the secondary-treated wastewater, and while the use of this effluent reduced the cells' photosynthetic efficiency, the nitrogen and phosphorus coefficient yield increased. Muriellopsis sp. and S. subpicatus were selected as the most promising strains for outdoor production using secondary-treated wastewater as the culture medium; this was not only because of their high productivity but also their photosynthetic efficiency, of up to 2.5 %, along with nutrient coefficient yields of up to 96 gbiomass gN (-1) and 166 gbiomass gP (-1). Coupling microalgae production processes to tertiary treatment in wastewater treatment plants make it possible to recover nutrients contained in the water and to produce valuable biomass, especially where nutrient removal is required prior to wastewater discharge.

Microbial contamination is the main cause of loss of biomass yield in microalgal cultures, especially under outdoor environmental conditions. Little is known about the identities of microbial contaminants in outdoor mass algal cultures. In this study, a new genus and species of vampyrellid amoeba, Vernalophrys algivore, is described from cultures of Scenedesmus dimorphus in open raceway ponds and outdoor flat-panel photobioreactors. This vampyrellid amoeba was a significant grazer of Scenedesmus and was frequently associated with a very rapid decline in algal numbers. We report on the morphology, subcellular structure, feeding behavior, molecular phylogeny, and life cycle. The new amoeba resembles Leptophrys in the shape of trophozoites and pseudopodia and in the mechanism of feeding (mainly by engulfment). It possesses two distinctive regions in helix E10_1 (nucleotides 117 to 119, CAA) and E23_1 (nucleotides 522 and 523, AG) of the 18S rRNA gene. It did not form a monophyletic group with Leptophrys in molecular phylogenetic trees. We establish a new genus, Vernalophrys, with the type species Vernalophrys algivore. The occurrence, impact of the amoeba on mass culture of S. dimorphus, and means to reduce vampyrellid amoeba contamination in Scenedesmus cultures are addressed. The information obtained from this study will be useful for developing an early warning system and control measures for preventing or treating this contaminant in microalgal mass cultures., (Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)

Microalgae are often considered as a promising alternative source of vegetable oils. These oils can be used for food and biofuel applications. Productivities that are projected for large-scale microalgal oil production are, however, often poorly supported by scientific evidence and based on too optimistic assumptions. To facilitate the inclusion of the microalgal physiology in these projections, existing knowledge and novel scientific insights were condensed into a mechanistic model that describes photosynthesis and carbon partitioning during nitrogen starvation. The model is validated using experimental data from both wild-type and a starchless mutant of Scenedesmus obliquus. The model is subsequently used to quantify how reactor design, process design, and strain improvement can improve the oil productivity from 2.1 to up to 10.9 g m(-2) day(-1). These projected productivities are used to reflect on commonly assumed oil productivities and it is concluded that the microalgal oil productivity is often overestimated several folds., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Variations in the exogenous nitrogen level are known to significantly affect the physiological status and metabolism of microalgae. However, responses of red, green and yellow-green algae to nitrogen (N) availability have not been compared yet. Porphyridium cruentum, Scenedesmus incrassatulus and Trachydiscus minutus were cultured in the absence of N in the medium and subsequent resupply of N to the starved cells. Culture growth and in-gel changes in isoenzyme pattern and activity of glutamate synthase, glutamate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were studied. The results demonstrated that the algae responded to the fully N-depleted and N-replete culture conditions by species-specific metabolic enzyme changes, suggesting differential regulation of both enzyme activity and cellular metabolism. Substantial differences in the activities of the antioxidant enzymes between N-depleted and N-replete cells of each species as well as between the species were also found. In the present work, besides the more general responses, such as adjustment of growth and pigmentation, we report on the involvement of specific metabolic and antioxidant enzymes and their isoforms in the mechanisms operating during N starvation and recovery in P. cruentum, T. minutus and S. incrassatulus.

Microalgae, Scenedesmus bijuga, was cultivated in anaerobically digested food wastewater effluent (FWE) to treat the wastewater and produce biodiesel simultaneously. Three different mixing ratios with municipal wastewater were compared for finding out proper dilution ratio in biodiesel production. Of these, 1/20 diluted FWE showed the highest biomass production (1.49 g/L). Lipid content was highest in 1/10 diluted FWE (35.06%), and the lipid productivity showed maximum value in 1/20 diluted FWE (15.59 mg/L/d). Nutrient removal was also measured in the cultivation. FAME compositions were mainly composed of C16-C18 (Over 98.94%) in S. bijuga. In addition, quality of FAMEs was evaluated by Cetane Number (CN) and Bis-allylic Position Equivalent (BAPE)., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The aim of the present work was the simultaneous treatment of urban wastewater using microalgae and the energetic valorization of the obtained biomass. Chlorella vulgaris (Cv), Scenedesmus obliquus (Sc) and a naturally occurring algal Consortium C (ConsC) were grown in an urban wastewater. The nutrient removals were quite high and the treated water fits the legislation (PT Dec-Lei 236/98) in what concerns the parameters analysed (N, P, COD). After nutrient depletion the microalgae remained two more weeks in the photobioreactor (PBR) under nutritional stress conditions, to induce sugar accumulation (22-43%). The stressed biomass was converted into biohydrogen (bioH2), a clean energy carrier, through dark fermentation by a strain of the bacteria Enterobacter aerogenes. The fermentation kinetics were monitored and fitted to a modified Gompertz model. The highest bioH2 production yield was obtained for S. obliquus (56.8 mL H2/gVS) which was very similar when using the same algae grown in synthetic media., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the effects of the type and concentration of nitrogen sources on the cell growth and lutein content of an isolated microalga Scenedesmus obliquus FSP-3 were investigated. With batch culture, the highest lutein content (4.61 mg/g) and lutein productivity (4.35 mg/L/day) were obtained when using 8.0 mM calcium nitrate as the nitrogen source. With this best nitrogen source condition, the microalgae cultivation was performed using two bioreactor strategies (namely, semi-continuous and two-stage operations) to further enhance the lutein content and productivity. Using semi-continuous operation with a 10% medium replacement ratio could obtain the highest biomass productivity (1304.8 mg/L/day) and lutein productivity (6.01 mg/L/day). This performance is better than most related studies., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this co-culture of oleaginous yeast-Rhodotorula glutinis and microalgae-Scenedesmus obliquus, microalgae potentially acts as an oxygen generator for the growth of aerobic yeast while the yeast mutually provides CO2 to the microalgae as both carry out the production of lipids. To explore the synergistic effects of co-cultivation on the cells growth and total lipids accumulation, several co-culture process parameters including the carbon source concentration, temperature and dissolved oxygen level would be firstly investigated in the flask trials. The results of co-culture in a 5L photobioreactor revealed that about 40-50% of biomass increased and 60-70% of total lipid increased was observed as compared to the single culture batches. Besides the synergistic effects of gas utilization, the providing of trace elements to each other after the natural cells lysis was believed to be another benefit to the growth of the overall co-culture system., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the reuse of nitrogen from fuel-extracted algal residues was investigated. The alga Scenedesmus acutus was found to be able to assimilate nitrogen contained in amino acids, yeast extracts, and proteinaceous alga residuals. Moreover, these alternative nitrogen resources could replace nitrate in culturing media. The ability of S. acutus to utilize the nitrogen remaining in processed algal biomass was unique among the promising biofuel strains tested. This alga was leveraged in a recycling approach where nitrogen is recovered from algal biomass residuals that remain after lipids are extracted and carbohydrates are fermented to ethanol. The protein-rich residuals not only provided an effective nitrogen resource, but also contributed to a carbon "heterotrophic boost" in subsequent culturing, improving overall biomass and lipid yields relative to the control medium with only nitrate. Prior treatment of the algal residues with Diaion HP20 resin was required to remove compounds inhibitory to algal growth., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microalgae cultivation has recently been recognized as an important issue to deal with the increasingly prominent resource and environmental problems. In this study, desert cyanobacterium Microcoleus vaginatus was open cultivated in 4 different cultivation conditions in Qubqi Desert, and it was found Chlorella sp., Scenedesmus sp. and Navicula sp. were the main contaminating microalgal species during the cultivation. High light intensity alone was responsible for the green algae contamination, but the accompanied high temperature was beneficial to cyanobacterial growth, and the maximum biomass productivity acquired was 41.3mgL(-1)d(-1). Low temperature was more suitable for contaminating diatoms' growth, although all the microalgae (including the target and contaminating) are still demand for a degree of light intensity, at least average daily light intensity >5μEm(-2)s(-1). As a whole, cultivation time, conditions and their interaction had a significant impact on microalgal photosynthetic activity (Fv/Fm), biomass and exopolysaccharides content (P<0.001)., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Self-inhibition of growth has been observed in different organisms, but an underlying common mechanism has not been proposed so far. Recently, extracellular DNA (exDNA) has been reported as species-specific growth inhibitor in plants and proposed as an explanation of negative plant-soil feedback. In this work the effect of exDNA was tested on different species to assess the occurrence of such inhibition in organisms other than plants. Bioassays were performed on six species of different taxonomic groups, including bacteria, fungi, algae, plants, protozoa and insects. Treatments consisted in the addition to the growth substrate of conspecific and heterologous DNA at different concentration levels. Results showed that treatments with conspecific DNA always produced a concentration dependent growth inhibition, which instead was not observed in the case of heterologous DNA. Reported evidence suggests the generality of the observed phenomenon which opens new perspectives in the context of self-inhibition processes. Moreover, the existence of a general species-specific biological effect of exDNA raises interesting questions on its possible involvement in self-recognition mechanisms. Further investigation at molecular level will be required to unravel the specific functioning of the observed inhibitory effects., (© 2015 The Authors New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.)

The microalga Scenedesmus obliquus was cultured in two cultivation stages: (1) in batch with real wastewater; (2) maintaining the stationary phase with different conditions of CO2, light and salinity according to a factorial design in order to improve the lipid content. The presence of the three factors increased lipid content from 35.8% to 49% at the end of the second stage; CO2 presence presented the highest direct effect increasing lipid content followed by light presence and salt presence. The ω-3 fatty acids content increased with CO2 and light presence acting in isolation, nevertheless, when both factors acted together the interaction effect was negative. The ω-3 eicosapentaenoic acid content of the oil from S. obliquus slightly exceeded the 1% maximum to be used as biodiesel source (EU normative). Therefore, it is suggested the blend with other oils or the selective extraction of the ω-3 fatty acids from S. obliquus oil., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Enrichment of waterways with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) has accelerated eutrophication and promoted cyanobacterial blooms worldwide. An understanding of whether cyanobacteria maintain their dominance under accelerated eutrophication will help predict trends and provide rational control measures. A mesocosm experiment was conducted under natural light and temperature conditions in Lake Taihu, China. It revealed that only N added to lake water promoted growth of colonial and filamentous cyanobacteria (Microcystis, Pseudoanabaena and Planktothrix) and single-cell green algae (Cosmarium, Chlorella, and Scenedesmus). Adding P alone promoted neither cyanobacteria nor green algae significantly. N plus P additions promoted cyanobacteria and green algae growth greatly. The higher growth rates of green algae vs. cyanobacteria in N plus P additions resulted in the biomass of green algae exceeding that of cyanobacteria. This indicates that further enrichment with N plus P in eutrophic water will enhance green algae over cyanobacterial dominance. However, it does not mean that eutrophication problems will cease. On the contrary, the risk will increase due to increasing total phytoplankton biomass.

The carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration potential of two microalgae, Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus abundans was evaluated in a tubular batch photobioreactor with provision for continuous flow of 10% CO2 enriched air through the headspace. CO2 sequestration and biomass growth was affected by gas flow rate over the range 20-60ml/min and 40ml/min was found to maximize algal growth and CO2 sequestration. Moles of CO2 sequestered over 20h at a gas flow rate of 40ml/min was estimated using a novel rapid screening approach as 0.096 and 0.036, respectively, for C. pyrenoidosa and S. abundans. At this gas flow rate the maximum growth rate was 4.9mgL(-1)h(-1) and 2.5mgL(-1)h(-1) for C. pyrenoidosa and S. abundans, respectively. The CO2 sequestration and growth rate were comparable at height/diameter ratio of 8 and 16., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microalgae hold great promise as a source of biofuels and biochemicals. The main obstacles to their industrial application are the high cultivation and downstream costs related to media and harvesting. In the work, we explored the multiple potentials of seawater to address key issues relating to the cultivation of Scenedesmus obliquus. Seawater can sufficiently replace some of the key elements in BG11 medium such as MgSO4, CaCl2, and NaCO3, and its use can significantly reduce the quantity of water required for the preparation of culture media. Among our results, the total chlorophyll content in cells grown in modified BG11 using 10 % (v/v) seawater was increased 1.47-fold without sacrificing biomass or lipid production. More than 70 % of the total algal biomass was auto-flocculated within one hour when cells were grown in seawater-supplemented media, which compares very favorably with a yield of only 3 % from cells grown in BG11.

Understanding sub-lethal effects of nanomaterial may be particularly important to determining ecosystem responses as current levels of nanomaterial release are low compared to levels projected for the future. In this work, the sub-lethal effects of water stable, nanocrystalline fullerenes as C60 (termed nC60) were studied on Scenedesmusobliquus, a globally distributed phytoplankton. Sub-lethal concentration for S. obliquus was firstly determined as 0.09mgL(-1) using the standard 72h exposure tests (OECD Guideline 201). Subsequent sub-lethal experiment of nC60 on the S. obliquus was carried out for 60d and focused on the photosynthesis processes. The results demonstrate that upon sub-lethal exposure, the photosynthetic products of polysaccharide, soluble protein and total lipid were decreased with exposure time. The photosynthetic pigments of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b were negatively impacted. Further investigations indicate that the decrements in photosynthetic products and pigments were mainly due to the algal Mg(2+) decrement (by 40%) at the sub-lethal concentration (0.09mgL(-1)) of nC60. The decrement in Mg(2+) of S. obliquus was due to the inhibition of Mg(2+)-ATPase activity caused by nC60. Sum up, these results not only describe the sub-lethal effects but also provide the probably mechanism for sub-lethal effects of nC60 on exposed S. obliquus., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Herbicide concentrations fluctuate widely in watercourses after crop applications and rain events. The level of concentrations in pulses can exceed the water chronic quality criteria. In the present study, we proposed modelling the effects of successive pulse exposure on algae. The deterministic model proposed is based on two parameters: (i) the typical growth rate of the algae, obtained by monitoring growth rates of several successive batch cultures in growth media, characterizing both the growth of the control and during the recovery periods; (ii) the growth rate of the algae exposed to pulses, determined from a dose-response curve obtained with a standard toxicity test. We focused on the herbicide isoproturon and on the freshwater alga Scenedesmus vacuolatus, and we validated the model prediction based on effect measured during five sequential pulse exposures in laboratory. The comparison between the laboratory and the modelled effects illustrated that the results yielded were consistent, making the model suitable for effect prediction of the herbicide photosystem II inhibitor isoproturon on the alga S. vacuolatus. More generally, modelling showed that both pulse duration and level of concentration play a crucial role. The application of the model to a real case demonstrated that both the highest peaks and the low peaks with a long duration affect principally the cell density inhibition of the alga S. vacuolatus. It is therefore essential to detect these characteristic pulses when monitoring of herbicide concentrations are conducted in rivers., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Drying of wet algal biomass is a major bottleneck in viable commercial production of the microalgal biodiesel. In the present investigation, an oven drying protocol was standardized for drying of wet Scenedesmus biomass at 60, 80 and 100°C with initial sample thickness of 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0mm. The optimum drying temperature was found to be 80°C with a maximum lipid yield of 425.0±5.9mgg(-1) at 15h drying time for 5.0mm thick samples with 0.033kWh power consumption. Partial drying at 80°C up to 10% residual moisture content was efficient showing 93% lipid recovery with 8h drying and a power consumption of 0.017kWh. Scenedesmus biomass was also found to be rich in saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids. Thus, the drying protocol demonstrates its suitability to improve the downstream processing of biodiesel production by significantly lowering the power consumption and the drying time., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Soluble algal products (SAPs) accumulated in microalgal culture could be used as carbon source by bacteria, and thus induce serious bacteria contamination. In this study, three freshwater microalgal strains, Scenedesmus sp. LX1 (S. LX1), Chlorella ellipsoidea YJ1 (C. YJ1) and Haematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis), were used to investigate the bioavailability of SAPs and its influence on microalgal growth in unsterilized domestic secondary effluent. S. LX1 and H. pluvialis could grow well whether secondary effluent was sterilized or not, while C. YJ1 showed poor growth without sterilization. The assimilable organic carbon (AOC) concentration and AOC content in the SAPs of C. YJ1 was as high as 180μg-CL(-1) and 3.2%, respectively, which induced more serious bacteria contamination and thus inhibited the growth of C. YJ1. Based on the results, in microalgal strain selection for massive cultivation, AOC assays of SAPs could be applied to examine microalgal susceptibility to bacteria contamination., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microalgae cultivation in wastewater has gained significant attention as a cost-saving means for algae-based biofuel production. To evaluate the performance of Scenedesmus dimorphus cultivated in a 100-L continuously operated photobioreactor using domestic secondary effluent (DSE), algal growth, nutrients removal and energy evaluation were conducted in four scenarios. Prior to the application of continuous cultivation, S. dimorphus was grown in a batch operated 1.5-L bubble column photobioreactor to test the growth feasibility and lipids accumulation of S. dimorphus in DSE. The highest biomass achieved in DSE was 244 mg L(-1)with lipid content at 26.06%. Simultaneously, 98.72% of total phosphorus (TP) and 98.04% of total nitrogen (TN) in DSE were removed. Then, S. dimorphus were inoculated in the 100-L continuously operated photobioreactor using BG11, unsterilized DSE, N, P-added DSE and UV-sterilized DSE as the medium, respectively. Results showed that the highest biomass gained were 567, 174, 276 and 198 mg L(-1), respectively. TP removal rates in four scenarios were all above 90%. With adjustment to DSE, the overall TN removal rates increased up to 80%. Finally, energy evaluation demonstrated that although the case of BG11 as the medium provided the most energy production, the case using DSE with N and P supplementation was of the highest net energy rate, suggesting that microalgae cultivation for biodiesel production by DSE is of obvious potential and advantage over the synthesis medium like BG11.

Effect of food wastewater (FW) on the biomass, lipid and carbohydrate production by a green microalga Scenedesmus obliquus cultivated in Bold's Basal Medium (BBM) was investigated. Different dilution ratios (0.5-10%) of BBM either with FW or salt solution (NaCl) or sea water (SW) were evaluated. S. obliquus showed the highest growth (0.41 g L(-1)), lipid productivity (13.3 mg L(-1) day L(-1)), carbohydrate productivity (14.7 mg L(-1) day L(-1)) and nutrient removal (38.9 mg TN L(-1) and 12.1 mg TP L(-1)) with 1% FW after 6 days of cultivation. The FW promoted algal autoflocculation due to formation of inorganic precipitates at an alkali pH. Fatty acid methyl ester analysis revealed that the palmitic and oleic acid contents were increased up to 8% with FW. Application of FW improved the growth, lipid/carbohydrate productivity and biomass recovery efficiency of S. obliquus, which can be exploited for cost effective production of microalgae biomass., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Three species of indigenous microalgae species were isolated from an artificial lake. They were identified as Scenedesmus sp., through the molecular phylogenetic and morphological method and named SDEC-12, SDEC-13 and SDEC-14. To evaluate their tolerance to the harmful composition in the exhaust gas and the potential to produce biodiesel, they were cultured with 15% CO2 and 200 ppm NO. The SDEC-13 and SDEC-14 strains were able to grow well under 15% CO2 with the maximum biomass productivity of 0.087 and 0.090 g L(-1) d(-1), respectively. When cultured with 15% CO2, the three strains showed a similar total lipid content (25.7-28.25%) and the fatty acid of SDEC-14 strain showed the highest saturated level (76.59%). SDEC-13 was the only strain that could tolerate 200 ppm NO and 15% CO2, while its total lipid content remained unaffected by the NO, so the SDEC-13 strain had the potential to produce biodiesel with flue gas.

Microalgae are product of sustainable development owing to its ability to treat variety of wastewater effluents and thus produced biomass can serve as value added product for various commercial applications. This paper deals with the cultivation of microalgae species namely Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus abundans in rice mill effluent (i.e., paddy soaked water) for nutrient removal. In order to investigate the nutrient removal capability, microalgae are subjected to cultivation in both raw and autoclaved samples. The maximum phosphate removal by Scenedesmus abundans and Chlorella pyrenoidosa in raw sample was 98.3% and 97.6%, respectively, whereas, the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen by Scenedesmus abundans and Chlorella pyrenoidosa in raw sample was 92% and 90.3%, respectively. The growth (measured in terms of chlorophyll content) of Scenedesmus abundans and Chlorella pyrenoidosa in raw sample was 3.88 mg/l and 5.55 mg/l, respectively. The results indicate the suitability of microalgae cultivation in rice mill effluent treatment for nutrient removal.

The anaerobic digestion of mixed indigenous microalgae, grown in a secondary effluent, was evaluated in batch tests at mesophilic (35°C) and thermophilic (50°C) conditions. Under mesophilic conditions, specific methane production varied from 178 to 207 mL CH4/g volatile solids (VS) and the maximum production rate varied from 8.8 to 26.1 mL CH4/(gVS day), depending on the type of microalgae culture. Lower methane parameters were observed in those cultures where Scenedesmus represents more than 95% of the microalge. The culture with the lowest digestion performances under mesophilic conditions was studied under thermophilic conditions. The increase in the incubation temperature significantly increased the specific methane production (390 mL CH4/g VS) and rate (26.0 mL CH4/(gVS day)). However, under thermophilic conditions a lag period of 30 days was observed.

The cultivation of microalgae with digestate supernatant is a promising process for the recovery of mineralized nutrients (P, N) from anaerobic digestion. Nevertheless, the variability of phosphorus concentration in the influent could limit this process. The impact of initial N:P ratios between 3 and 76gNgP(-1) was studied and proved no growth limitation over 14-day batch experiments even when P was depleted. Nitrogen assimilation was not affected by phosphorus concentrations and reached 10.1mgNL(-1)d(-1) whereas phosphorus removal ranged from 0.6 to 2.0mgPL(-1)d(-1). The biomass N:P ratio was found to be a function of the influent N:P ratio. Phosphorus storage by microalgae was thus confirmed. Nitrification was found to be highly dependent on the initial phosphorus concentration. The evolution of microalgae communities was also monitored and revealed the advantage of Scenedesmus over Chlorella when the media was phosphorus-depleted., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The efficient harvesting of microalgae is considered to be one of the challenging steps of algal biofuel production and a key factor limiting the commercial use of microalgae. To overcome the limitation of metallic electrodes depletion, the application of non-sacrificial electrode was investigated for the electrochemical harvesting (ECH) of microalgae. The effect of applied current, addition of electrolyte and initial pH were parameters investigated. The highest recovery efficiency of 83% was obtained for Scenedesmus obliquus at 1.5A, initial pH 9 and 6gL(-)(1) NaCl with power consumption of 3.84kWhkg(-)(1). Recovery efficiency of ECH process was comparable to literature reported centrifugation, filtration and chemical flocculation techniques but with a much lower power consumption. The ECH process with addition of electrolyte enhanced the lipid extraction by 22% without any adverse effects. The ECH process with non sacrificial carbon electrodes could be a possible harvesting step at commercial scale microalgal biomass production., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Open raceway ponds are cost-efficient for mass cultivation of microalgae compared with photobioreactors. Although low-cost options like wastewater as nutrient source is studied to overcome the commercialization threshold for biodiesel production from microalgae, a cost analysis on the use of wastewater and other incremental increases in productivity has not been elucidated. We determined the effect of using wastewater and wavelength filters on microalgal productivity. Experimental results were then fitted into a model, and cost analysis was performed in comparison with control raceways. Three different microalgal strains, Chlorella vulgaris AG10032, Chlorella sp. JK2, and Scenedesmus sp. JK10, were tested for nutrient removal under different light wavelengths (blue, green, red, and white) using filters in batch cultivation. Blue wavelength showed an average of 27% higher nutrient removal and at least 42% higher chemical oxygen demand removal compared with white light. Naturally, the specific growth rate of microalgae cultivated under blue wavelength was on average 10.8% higher than white wavelength. Similarly, lipid productivity was highest in blue wavelength, at least 46.8% higher than white wavelength, whereas FAME composition revealed a mild increase in oleic and palmitic acid levels. Cost analysis reveals that raceways treating wastewater and using monochromatic wavelength would decrease costs from 2.71 to 0.73 $/kg biomass. We prove that increasing both biomass and lipid productivity is possible through cost-effective approaches, thereby accelerating the commercialization of low-value products from microalgae, like biodiesel.

Aims: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the capacity of a microalga, Scenedesmus sp. AMDD, to remediate nutrients from municipal wastewater, either as the sole nutrient source or after blending with wastewater obtained from the anaerobic digestion of swine manure. A complimentary aim was to study and define the effects of these wastewaters on microalgal growth, biomass productivity and composition which have important implications for a commercial biofuels production system., Methods and Results: A microalga, Scenedesmus sp. AMDD, was grown in continuous chemostats in municipal wastewater or wastewater supplemented with 1·6× or 2·4× higher levels of nitrogen (N) obtained through supplementation with anaerobic digestates. Biomass productivity increased with increasing nutrient supplementation, but was limited by light at high cell densities. Cellular quotas of carbon (C), nitrogen and phosphorus (P) all increased in direct proportion to their concentrations in the combined wastewaters. At higher cell densities, total carbohydrate decreased while protein increased. Fatty acid content remained relatively constant. Under high nutrient levels, the fatty acid profiles contained a higher concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids at the expense of monounsaturated fatty acids. Chlorophyll a was 2·5 times greater in the treatment of greatest nutrient supplementation compared to the treatment with the least. Ammonium (NH4(+)) and phosphate (PO4(3-)) were completely removed by algal growth in all treatments and with maximal removal rates of 41·2 mg N l(-1) d(-1) and 6·7 mg P l(-1) d(-1) observed in wastewater amended with 2·4× higher N level., Significance and Impact of the Study: The study is the first to report stable, long-term continuous algal growth and productivity obtained by combining wastewaters of different sources. The study is supported by detailed analyses of the composition of the cultivated biomass and links composition to the nutrient and light availabilities in the cultures. Simultaneous remediation of these wastes by algal growth is discussed as a strategy for the valorization of the biomass., (© 2014 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada © 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Industry.)

A reliable characterization of cladocerans' growth kinetic on their substrates is crucial for the estimation of their biochemical conversion rate in pond models. Although many studies reported cladocerans' growth inhibitions by high chlorophyceae contents, their growth kinetics had continued to be described in many pond system models by Monod-type kinetic, which describes growth saturation by high substrate contents, but fails to explain the disappearance of cladocerans observed during chlorophyceae's bloom periods. This study aimed to develop a methodology and assess whether growth-inhibition-type models used to describe microbial growth kinetics can be applicable to cladocerans. Experiments were carried out using Daphnia pulex populations and Scenedesmus sp. First, biomass of D. pulex was measured through digital image processing (DIP) during growth experiments. Then, three candidate models (i.e., Andrews, Edward and Haldane models), along with the Monod model, were fitted to the observed data and compared. The results showed that the DIP technique provided reliable results for estimating the biomass of D. pulex. Our findings show that the candidate growth inhibition-type models satisfactorily described D. pulex's growth kinetic (86% variance accounted for). Scenesdemus sp. were not strong inhibitors of the growth of D. pulex (high inhibition constant and low half-saturation constant found).

Discovering microalgae strains containing a high lipid yield and adequate fatty acid composition is becoming a crucial fact in algae-oil factories. In this study, two unknown strains, named Scenedesmus abundans and Chlorella ellipsoidea, have been tested for their response to different nitrogen sources, in order to determine its influence in the production of lipids. For S. abundans, autotrophic culture with ammonium nitrate offers the maximum lipid yield, obtaining up to 3.55 mg L(-1) d(-1). For C. ellipsoidea, heterotrophic culture with ammonium nitrate has been shown to be the best condition, reaching a lipid production of 9.27 mg L(-1) d(-1). Moreover, fatty acid composition obtained from these cultures meets international biodiesel standards with an important amount of C18:1, achieving 70% of total fatty acids and thus representing a potential use of these two strains at an industrial scale., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In an effort to identify suitable microalgal species for biodiesel production, seven species were isolated from various habitats and their growth characteristics were compared. The results demonstrated that a green alga Scenedesmus obliquus could grow more rapidly and synthesize more lipids than other six microalgal strains. S. obliquus grew well both indoors and outdoors, and reached higher μmax indoors than that outdoors. However, the cells achieved higher dry weight (4.36 g L(-1)), lipid content (49.6%) and productivity (183 mg L(-1) day(-1)) outdoors than in indoor cultures. During the 61 days semi-continuous cultivation outdoors, high biomass productivities (450-550 mg L(-1) day(-1)) and μmax (1.05-1.44 day(-1)) were obtained. The cells could also achieve high lipid productivities (151-193 mg L(-1) day(-1)). These results indicated that S. obliquus was promising for lipids production in semi-continuous cultivation outdoors., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The growth of Scenedesmus obliquus improved with increase in phytohormones concentrations (10(-8)-10(-)(5)M). Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) supported the maximum growth at 10(-5)M with 17.7×10(6)cells/mL and total fatty acid of 97.9mg/g-DCW, enhancing the growth by 1.9-fold compared to control (9.5×10(6)cells/mL). While 10(-5)M of a newly discovered phytohormone Diethyl aminoethyl hexanoate (DAH) demonstrated a 2.5-fold higher growth with 23.5×10(6)cells/mL and a total fatty acid content of 100mg/g-DCW. Poly-unsaturated fatty acid content increased up to 56% and 59% at 10(-)(5)M of IAA and DAH, respectively. The highest carbohydrate content (33% and 34%) achieved at 10(-8)M and 10(-5)M of IAA and DAH, respectively. While, the highest protein content (34% and 35%) obtained at 10(-8)M of IAA and DAH, respectively. The current investigation demonstrates that phytohormones accelerate microalgal growth and induce the quality and quantity of fatty acid content for biodiesel production., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

During anaerobic digestion, nutrients are mineralized and may require post-treatment for optimum valorization. The cultivation of autotrophic microalgae using the digestate supernatant is a promising solution; however the dark color of the influent poses a serious problem. First, the color of the digestates was studied and the results obtained using three different digestates demonstrated a strong heterogeneity although their color remained rather constant over time. The digestates absorbed light over the whole visible spectrum and remained colored even after a ten-fold dilution. Secondly, the impact of light and of substrate color on the growth of Scenedesmus sp. and on nitrogen removal were assessed. These experiments led to the construction of a model for predicting the impact of influent color and light intensity on N removal. Maximum N removal (8.5 mgN- [Formula: see text]  L(-1) d(-1)) was observed with an initial optical density of 0.221 and 244 μmolE m(-)² s(-1) light and the model allows to determine N removal between 15.9 and 22.7 mgN- [Formula: see text]  L(-1) d(-1) in real conditions according to the dilution level of the influent and related color. Changes in the microalgae community were monitored and revealed the advantage of Chlorella over Scenedesmus under light-limitation. Additionally microalgae outcompeted nitrifying bacteria and experiments showed how microalgae become better competitors for nutrients when phosphorus is limiting. Furthermore, nitrification was limited by microalgae growth, even when P was not limiting., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Supplementing proper nutrients could be a strategy for enhancing algal biomass, nutrients uptake and lipid accumulation in the coupling system of biodiesel production and municipal wastewater treatment. However, there is scant information reporting systematic studies on screening and optimization of key supplemented components in the coupling system. The main factors were scientifically screened and optimized using statistical methods. Plackett-Burman design (PBD) was used to explore the roles of added nutrient factors, whereas response surface methodology (RSM) was employed for optimization. Based on the statistic analysis, the optimum added TP and FeCl3·6H2O concentrations for Scenedesmus obliquus-like microalgae growth, nutrients uptake and lipid accumulation were 4.41 mg L(-1) and 6.48 mg L(-1), respectively. The corresponding biomass, lipid content and TN/TP removal efficiency were 1.46 g L(-1), 36.26% and >99%. The predicted value agreed well with the experimental value, as determined by validation experiments, which confirmed the availability and accuracy of the model., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Dilution was employed as a pretreatment strategy to increase light transmittance and decrease ammonia toxicity in piggery effluent prior to the cultivation of microalgae. The dilution effect was quantitatively determined based on both the maximum specific nutrient consumption rate and the maximum growth coefficient to minimize the usage of diluent. The biomass productivity of microalgae was also evaluated to select the best species among the five different candidates examined. A 20-fold dilution of piggery wastewater resulted in decreased chromaticity (584 mg Pt-Co L(-1)) and total nitrogen (76 mg L(-1)), on which the microalgae cultivation was more effective for an algal growth compared to the other dilution factors. If the initial cell concentration of Scenedesmus quadricauda increased, the production of biomass tended to improve. Robust growth and harvesting of S. quadricauda were achieved, and the associated consistent removal of inorganic nutrients was accomplished during the semi-continuous cultivation of the best species.

Effects of Fe(3+) (0-0.12 g/L), Mg(2+) (0-0.73 g/L) and Ca(2+) (0-0.98 g/L) on the biomass and lipid accumulation of heterotrophic microalgae were investigated in dark environment. The biomass and lipid production exhibited an increasing trend with increasing the concentrations of metal ions. In cultures with 1.2 × 10(-3) g/L Fe(3+), 7.3 × 10(-3) g/L Mg(2+) and 9.8 × 10(-4) g/L Ca(2+), the maximum biomass, total lipid content and lipid productivity reached 3.49 g/L, 47.4% and 275.7 mg/L/d, respectively. More importantly, EDTA addition (1.0 × 10(-3) g/L) could enhance the solubility of metal ions (iron and calcium) and increase their availability by microalgae, which evidently promote the lipid accumulation. Compared with the control, the total lipid content and lipid productivity increased 28.2% and 29.7%, respectively. These show that appropriate concentrations of metal ions and EDTA in the culture medium were beneficial to lipid accumulation of heterotrophic Scenedesmus sp. cells., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Microalgae has been concerned as a potential source of biodiesel in the recent years. However, it is costly to harvest microalgae as it is commonly cultured in water and the cells are too small to harvest. In order to reduce the cost of cultivation and harvesting, it is important to improve the biomass productivity of microalgae. Here, we utilized the attachment method to culture microalgae to cut off the cost of culture and harvest., Results: In this paper, various supporting surface with different hydrophility including polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polysulfone (PS), which are not easy to be degraded in the culture medium, were used for microalgae culture by the attachment method. The results showed that PVDF supporting cloth was suitable for the algae growth, and its average biomass productivity was to 4.0 g/m2/day. Furthermore, a series of PVDF concentrations were tested, and cloth treated with 3% or 5% PVDF solution was better for the algae culture. In addition, Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with different molecular weight was added to the PVDF solution as porogens to produce rough surface. And the addition of PVP resulted in better growth with 6.0 g/m2/day of average biomass productivity., Conclusion: This attachment method makes the harvest of microalgae easy and energy-saving, because the microalgae grow on the supporting material and is easy to be scraped. The results indicate that the PVDF-treated cloth is a potential alternative for the microalgae attachment culture.

Eukaryotic microalgae and cyanobacteria have recently reemerged as promising organisms in the effort to develop sustainable options for production of food and fuel. However, substantial discrepancies consistently arise between laboratory and outdoor cultivation, and gains demonstrated using laboratory technologies have not paralleled gains observed in field demonstrations. For these reasons, a low-maintenance system and process for research-scale outdoor cultivation of a variety of both freshwater and marine microalgae and cyanobacteria was developed. Nine genera were evaluated in the system, demonstrating cultivation of both laboratory model and commercial-production organisms. Hundreds to thousands of grams of dry biomass could be produced in a single growth cycle, suitable for a variety of uses including inoculum generation, protein production, and biofuel applications. Following testing in outdoor stock-ponds, Scenedesmus and Nannochloropsis were grown semi-continuously in an 8000 L airlift-driven raceway, yielding in total over 8 kg of dry biomass for each strain., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

There is a pressing need to develop efficient and sustainable separation technologies to harvest algae for biofuel production. In this work, two bacterial species (Escherichia coli and Rhodococus sp.) were used as biocoagulants to harvest Chlorella zofingiensis and Scenedesmus dimorphus. The influences of UV irradiation and polyethylenimine (PEI)-coating on the algal harvesting efficiency were investigated. Results showed that the UV irradiation could slightly enhance bacteria-algae biocoagulation and algal harvesting efficiency. In contrast, the PEI-coated E. coli cells noticeably increased the harvesting efficiencies from 23% to 83% for S. dimorphus when compared to uncoated E. coli cells. Based on the soft-particle Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory, an energy barrier existed between uncoated E. coli cells and algal cells, whereas the PEI coating on E. coli cells eliminated the energy barrier, thereby the biocoagulation was significantly improved. Overall, this work presented groundwork toward the potential use of bacterial biomass for algal harvesting from water., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microalgae have tremendous potential as a renewable feedstock for the production of liquid transportation fuels. In natural waters, the importance of physical associations and biochemical interactions between microalgae and bacteria is generally well appreciated, but the significance of these interactions to algal biofuels production have not been investigated. Here, we provide a preliminary report on the frequency of co-occurrence between indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)-producing bacteria and green algae in natural and engineered ecosystems. Growth experiments with unicellular algae, Chlorella and Scenedesmus, revealed IAA concentration-dependent responses in chlorophyll content and dry weight. Importantly, discrete concentrations of IAA resulted in cell culture synchronization, suggesting that biochemical priming of cellular metabolism could vastly improve the reliability of high density cultivation. Bacterial interactions may have an important influence on algal growth and development; thus, the preservation or engineered construction of the algal-bacterial assembly could serve as a control point for achieving low input, reliable production of algal biofuels.

In this work, the production of Scenedesmus obliquus in a continuous flat-plate laboratory-scale photobioreactor (PBR) under alternated day-night cycles was tested both experimentally and theoretically. Variation of light intensity according to the four seasons of the year were simulated experimentally by a tunable LED lamp, and effects on microalgal growth and productivity were measured to evaluate the conversion efficiency of light energy into biomass during the different seasons. These results were used to validate a mathematical model for algae growth that can be applied to simulate a large-scale production unit, carried out in a flat-plate PBR of similar geometry. The cellular concentration in the PBR was calculated in both steady-state and transient conditions, and the value of the maintenance kinetic term was correlated to experimental profiles. The relevance of this parameter was finally outlined.

The present study deals with the large scale open system cultivation of the novel microalga: Scenedesmus obliquus SA1 (KC733762) previously isolated in our laboratory. SA1 strain was cultivated in open system at varying CO2 levels ranging from 0.03% to 35% (v/v) and subsequently the carbonic anhydrase activity (CA) and the biochemical properties were monitored. Maximum biomass concentration (1.39 ± 0.023 g L(-1)), CO2 fixation rate (97.65 ± 1.03 mg L(-1)d(-1)) and total CA activity (166.86 ± 3.30 E.U./mg chla) were obtained at 35% CO2. CA inhibitors: acetazolamide and ethoxyzolamide inhibited the external and internal enzyme activity in SA1. High CO2 levels were favorable for the accumulation of lipids and chlorophyll. The present results suggested that SA1 possessed high CO2 tolerance and high carbohydrate, lipid and chlorophyll content when cultivated in open system thus being suitable for CO2 mitigation in outdoor ponds and subsequent generation of value added products., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The selection of the right strains is of fundamental important to the success of the algae-based oil industry. From the six newly isolated microalgae strains tested for growth, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles and biodiesel properties, Scenedesmus SDEC-8, with favorable C16:0 fatty acids (73.43%), showed the best combined results. Then, morphological and molecular identification were examined. From the three wastewaters samples, Scenedesmus SDEC-8 showed good ability to yield oil and remove nutrients, which were comparable with other reports. In b artificial wastewater (TN 40 mg L(-1), TP 8 mg L(-1)), Scenedesmus SDEC-8 achieved the highest value of lipid productivity (53.84 mg L(-1) d(-1)), MUFA content (35.35%) and total FAME content (59.57±0.02 mg g(-1) DW), besides higher removal efficiencies of TN (99.18%) and TP (98.86%) helped effluent directly discharge and smaller dilution factor of N, P (3.3 and 9) which was good for lessening water utilization., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Monoraphidium sp., Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp. algae were cultured in three volumes of Tilapia Effluent Medium (TEM) in comparison with the Bold Basal Medium (BBM) (Nichols and Bold, 1965). Specific growth rate (μ'), biomass dry productivity (Q), volumetric productivity (Qv) as well as lipid and protein content were measured. Then, volumetric productivities for both lipids and proteins were calculated (QVL and QVP). In Scenedesmus sp., BBM produced higher μ' and Qv than TEM in 1.5L volume. Chlorella sp. showed a higher QVL for BBM than TEM. Any observed difference in protein or lipid productivities among volumes was in favor of a greater productivity for 1.5L volume. Even when TEM had a larger protein content in Chlorella sp. than BBM, QVP was not different. Current results imply that TEM can be used as an alternative growth medium for algae when using Batch cultures, yet productivity is reduced., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The acute and chronic toxic effects of Bisphenol A (BPA) on Chlorella pyrenoidosa (C. pyrenoidosa) and Scenedesmus obliquus (S. obliquus) were not well understood. The indoor experiments were carried out to observe and analyze the BPA-induced changes. Results of the observations showed that in acute tests BPA could significantly inhibit the growth of both algae, whereas chronic exposure hardly displayed similar trend. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT) activities of both algae were promoted in all the treatments. Chlorophyll a synthesis of the two algae exhibited similar inhibitory trend in short-term treatments, and in chronic tests C. pyrenoidosa hardly resulted in visible influence, whereas in contrast, dose-dependent inhibitory effects of S. obliquus could be clearly observed. The experimental results indicated that the growth and Chlorophyll a syntheses of S.obliquus were more sensitive in response to BPA than that of C. pyrenoidosa, whereas for SOD andCAT activities, C. pyrenoidosa was more susceptible. This research provides a basic understanding of BPA toxicity to aquatic organisms., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

A continuous fixed-bed biosorption process was established for cadmium (Cd) removal by Scenedesmus obliquus CNW-N (isolated from southern Taiwan) cells immobilized onto loofa sponge. This immobilized-cell biosorption process allows better recovery and reusability of the microalgal biomass. The growth of microalgae on the matrix support with appropriate nutrient supplementation could enhance the overall metal removal activity. Major operating parameters (e.g., feeding flow rate, cycle number of medium replacement, and particle diameter of the sponge) were studied for treatability evaluation. The most promising cell growth on the sponge support was obtained at a flow rate of 0.284 bed volume (BV)/min, sponge particle diameter of 1 cm, and with one cycle of medium replacement. The performance of fixed-bed biosorption (adsorption capacity of 38.4 mg, breakthrough time at 15.5 h) was achieved at a flow rate of 5 ml/min with an influent concentration of 7.5 mg Cd/l., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

As a persistent bioaccumulative compound, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is found in various ecosystems and receives growing attention. The acute toxicity of PFOA was tested on 2 freshwater microalgae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Scenedesmus obliquus. The 96-h concentration for 50% of maximal effect (EC50) values were measured, physiological responses of the algae were investigated, and uptake of PFOA by the algae was quantified. The EC50 values for C. reinhardtii and S. obliquus were 51.9 ± 1.0 mg/L and 44.0 ± 1.5 mg/L PFOA, respectively. After 8-d exposure to PFOA ranging from 10 mg/L to 40 mg/L, the growth of C. reinhardtii was significantly inhibited, whereas that of S. obliquus was only slightly suppressed. Increases in malonaldehyde and proline levels were observed in the 2 algae when exposed to PFOA at certain concentrations, for instance, 20 mg/L and 40 mg/L, which is indicative of the trigger of a defensive mechanism. The percentage of PFOA that was adsorbed by the algae after 8-d exposure at a dosage between 5 mg/L and 20 mg/L ranged from 5.5% to 7.5%, and the uptake of PFOA by the algae exceeded 10%., (© 2014 SETAC.)