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Flocculation of marine microalgae is challenging because of the high ionic strength of the culture medium. We investigated cationic cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as biobased flocculants for the marine microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata, and compared its performance to chitosan. Cationic CNCs induced flocculation at a low dose of 11 mg.L-1 while chitosan required a dose of 35 mg.L-1. Our cationic CNCs possess a permanent positive charge, allowing flocculation over a wide pH-range (4 to 10). The CNC maximum flocculation efficiency was 90 %, while chitosan achieved > 95 %, attributed to small flocs remaining in suspension for CNCs. However, centrifugation for 1 min at 180 g or gravity filtration using a 30 µm nylon filter after CNC flocculation resulted in the removal of these small, stable flocs (∼150 µm diam) and > 95% harvesting efficiency. Cationic CNCs can serve as a sustainable alternative natural flocculant for harvesting both freshwater and marine microalgae. ispartof: Carbohydrate Polymers vol:240 ispartof: location:England status: Published online

In recent days, the interest on torrefaction is increasing owing to its ability to improve biomass properties to a level of competing with coal. However, its techno-economic feasibility still need to be optimized. Integrating torrefaction with other thermochemical and biochemical processes could be a feasible option to improve the performance of the torrefaction process. In that regard, this study evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of integrating the torrefaction with anaerobic digestion (AD). In addition, new process configurations were studied to identify the possible heat energy recovery options. Technical feasibility was tested through mass and energy balance at each process unit. The economic indicators such as net present value (€), minimum selling price and internal rate on return (%) were used to evaluate the economic performance. At 10 t/h of torrefied biomass pellets production capacity, the estimated bio-methane production from AD was 369 m3/h. The economic evaluation shows that the minimum selling price of the torrefied biomass to reach the breakeven could be reduced from 199 €/t for standalone torrefaction to 185 €/t in case of torrefaction integrated with AD. The sensitivity analysis shows that feedstock and total capital investment were the most sensitive input parameters. This study shows that integrating the torrefaction with AD has better technical and economic feasibility than standalone torrefaction.

Torrefaction is a biomass energy densification process that generates a major byproduct in the form of torrefaction condensate. Microbial conversion of torrefaction condensate could be an attractive option for energy integration within torrefaction process. However, torrefaction condensate contains several compounds, such as furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and guaiacol that are inhibitory to microbes. In this study, for the first time, we reported detoxification of torrefaction condensate, by removing the major inhibitory compound furfural, using torrefied biomass and later used the detoxified torrefaction condensate for anaerobic digestion. The effect of varying torrefaction temperature (225–300 °C), torrefied biomass dosage (25–250 g/L), initial pH (2.0–9.0), and contact time (1–12 h) on furfural adsorption was studied with batch adsorption experiments. The furfural adsorption on torrefied biomass was best represented by pseudo second order kinetic model. The adsorption of furfural and other inhibitory compounds on torrefied biomass was likely a hydrophobic interaction. A maximum of 60% of furfural was adsorbed from torrefaction condensate containing 9000 mg furfural/L using 250 g/L of torrefied biomass in batch adsorption. For, column (20 mm internal diameter and 200 mm bed height), the saturation time for furfural adsorption was around 50 min. Anaerobic digestion of the detoxified torrefaction condensate shows that the lag phase in methane production was reduced from 25 d to 15 d for 0.2 volatile solid (VS) substrate :VS inoculum loading. The study shows that torrefaction condensate can be effectively detoxified using torrefied biomass for microbial conversion and can be integrated within the torrefied biomass pellet production process.

Producción Científica, Microalgal-bacterial consortium can be used to upgrade biogas by removing CO2 and H2S. Photosynthetic biogas upgrading requires harvesting microalgal-bacterial biomass in order to use the biomass-free cultivation medium as scrubbing liquid in the absorption column. In this study, the efficiency of different flocculants (Zetag 8125, cationically modified cellulose nanocrystals, Tanfloc, chitosan, and FeCl3) to harvest microalgal-bacterial biomass used for biogas upgrading in alkaline medium (inorganic carbon concentration up to 1800 mg L−1 and a pH ~10) was evaluated. Zetag and cationic cellulose nanocrystals resulted in maximum flocculation efficiencies of 95% (optimal dose 30 mg g−1) and 93% (optimal dose 20 mg g−1), respectively. Low flocculation was observed with other flocculants at doses as high as 200 mg g−1, which can be ascribed to the high pH of the alkaline medium. Zetag and cationic cellulose nanocrystals were selected for harvesting the biomass during semi-continuous cultivation of the microalgal consortium. Both Zetag and cationic cellulose nanocrystals were effective in flocculating the biomass with efficiencies of over 90% during five successive harvesting cycles. Gravity settling of the flocs formed by Zetag and cationic cellulose nanocrystals resulted in low biomass concentration factors of 7.7 and 2.0, respectively. Screening of flocs using a nylon mesh screen (pore size of 180 μm) resulted in a biomass concentration factor as high as 19.8. Zetag and cationic cellulose nanocrystals could be useful in harvesting biomass under high alkaline conditions without detrimental effects on biomass growth., Junta de Castilla y León y programa EU-FEDER (CLU 2017-09) y (UIC 071), FWO-NRF cooperation project (VS00218N), European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 751637

Organic compound rich torrefaction condensate, owing to their high water content and acidic nature, have yet to be exploited for practical application. In this study, microbial conversion of torrefaction condensate from pine wood through anaerobic batch digestion (AD) to produce methane was evaluated. Torrefaction condensate exhibited high methane potentials in the range of 430–492 mL/g volatile solids (VS) and 430–460 mL/g VS under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. Owing to the changes in the composition, the methane yields differed with the torrefaction condensates produced at different temperatures (225, 275 and 300 °C), with a maximum of 492 ± 18 mL/g VS with the condensate produced at 300 °C under mesophilic condition. The cyclic batch AD experiments showed that 0.1 VS substrate :VS inoculum is optimum, whereas the higher substrate loading (0.2–0.5) resulted in a reversible inhibition of the methane production. The results suggest that torrefaction condensate could be practically valorized through AD.

Microalgal biofuel, albeit an exciting potential fossil-fuel-replacement candidate, still requires the development of more advanced downstream processing technology for its price competitiveness. The major challenge in a microalgae-based biorefinery is the efficient separation of microalgae from low-concentration culture broth. The post-harvesting cell-disruption step necessary to render microalgae suitable for lipid extraction, moreover, further raises energy consumption and cost. For the mitigation of biorefinery complexity and costs, we suggest herein a new scheme that integrates the critical downstream processes (harvesting and cell disruption) by means of cationic surfactant-decorated Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The cationic surfactants’ quaternary ammonium heads play an important role in not only flocculating negatively charged microalgae but also weakening thick cell walls. In the present study, the harvesting efficiency and cell-damaging effects of three cationic surfactants — cetrimonium bromide (CTAB), cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), and cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB) — were evaluated. The CTAB-decorated Fe3O4 nanoparticles, which were found to be the most effective, achieved a 96.6% microalgae harvesting efficiency at a dosage of 0.46 g particle per g cell. Next, for the purposes of magnetic nanoparticle recycling and high-purity microalgal biomass obtainment, microalgae detachment from microalgae-Fe3O4 flocs was performed by addition of an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The detached CTAB-decorated Fe3O4 nanoparticles showed a steady reuse efficiency of about 80%. Furthermore, microalgae harvesting by CTAB-decorated Fe3O4 nanoparticles could contribute to a great improvement in the total extracted lipid content and greener wet extraction without the additional energy-intensive cell-disruption step, thus demonstrating the cell-disruption ability of CTAB-decorated Fe3O4 nanoparticles.

Recently, biofuels and nutraceuticals produced from microalgae have emerged as major interests, resulting in intensive research of the microalgal biorefinery process. In this paper, recent developments in cell-wall disruption and extraction methods are reviewed, focusing on lipid and astaxanthin production from the biotechnologically important microalgae Chlorella and Haematococcus, respectively. As a common, critical bottleneck for recovery of intracellular components such as lipid and astaxanthin from these microalgae, the composition and structure of rigid, thick cell-walls were analyzed. Various chemical, physical, physico-chemical, and biological methods applied for cell-wall breakage and lipid/astaxanthin extraction from Chlorella and Haematococcus are discussed in detail and compared based on efficiency, energy consumption, type and dosage of solvent, biomass concentration and status (wet/dried), toxicity, scalability, and synergistic combinations. This report could serve as a useful guide to the implementation of practical downstream processes for recovery of valuable products from microalgae including Chlorella and Haematococcus.

We report a highly biocompatible and practical protocol to create alginate microgels for bioactive encapsulation. Double-emulsion drops composed of dual cores enclosed by an ultrathin shell are prepared in a capillary microfluidic device, which exhibit selective coalescence between the cores. When the cores are laden with alginate precursors and divalent ions, respectively, coalescence leads to the formation of alginate microgels in the fused core of double-emulsion drops. The microgel can be rapidly released into a continuous water phase by rupturing the liquid shell. This method neither involves any toxic chemical cues for gelation nor long-term exposure to oil, thereby providing highly biocompatible encapsulation.

Microalgae have received significant attention as promising resources for biodiesel. However, the downstream processes for the production of biodiesel, which range from cultivation, harvesting, dewatering, and lipid extraction to oil upgrading, are economically impracticable and can be improved. Therefore, efficient microalgal harvesting and integrated technologies are required to realize microalgae-based biodiesel. Herein, tri-functional (cationic, magnetic, and lipophilic) carbon microparticles filled with magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) are synthesized through one-step aerosol spray pyrolysis and applied in microalgal harvesting and serial microalgal lipid entrapment. Carbon microparticles are tri-functional in the following respects: (i) the cationic carbon microparticles facilitate flocculation with anionic microalgae due to electrostatic attractions; (ii) the magnetic properties of the carbon microparticles, owing to embedded magnetites, enable the separation of microalgal flocs from low concentration cultures (∼2 g L −1 ) with a separation efficiency of 99%; and (iii) the lipophilicity enables the recovery of lipid droplets extracted from oleaginous microalgae. Microalgal lipids are directly separated through adsorption onto magnetic carbon microparticles from concentrated microalgal slurries after harvesting. The tri-functionality may facilitate the integrated use of magnetic carbon microparticles in microalgal biorefineries and the tri-functional microparticles could potentially be applied in various areas such as biomedicine, catalysis, magnetism, energy materials, and environmental remediation.

Milking of microalgae, the process of reusing the biomass for continuous production of target compounds, can strikingly overcome the time and cost constraints associated with biorefinery. This process can significantly improve production efficiency of highly valuable chemicals, for example, astaxanthin (AXT) from Haematococcus pluvialis. Detailed understanding of the biological process of cell survival and AXT reaccumulation after extraction would be of great help for successful milking. Here we report extraction of AXT from a single cell of H. pluvialis through incision of the cell wall by a gold nanoscalpel (Au-NS), which allows single-cell analysis of wound healing and reaccumulation of AXT. Interestingly, upon the Au-NS incision, the cell could reaccumulate AXT at a rate two times faster than the control cells. Efficient extraction as well as minimal cellular damage, keeping cells alive, could be achieved with the optimized shape and dimensions of Au-NS: a well-defined sharp tip, thickness under 300 nm, and 1-3 μm of width. The demonstration of regenerative extraction of AXT at a single cell level hints toward the potential of a milking process for continuous recovery of target compounds from microalgae while keeping the cells alive.

Haematococcus pluvialis, in the dormant aplanospore (cyst) status after 30 d of cultivation, accumulates high levels of a superpotent antioxidant, astaxanthin, which has been demonstrated to have enormous therapeutic benefits. However, owing to the robust structure of its trilayered cell wall, the recovery of astaxanthin from the cyst cells remains an energy-intensive process. In the present study, a novel strategy utilizing a short-period germination based on the natural life cycle of H. pluvialis was developed as an energy-efficient pretreatment for the extraction of astaxanthin using ionic liquids (ILs) as green solvents. The germination resulted in damage and deconstruction of the cyst cell wall, and thereby facilitated the extraction of astaxanthin by ILs at room temperature. By this natural pretreatment with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethylsulfate for a very short reaction time of 1 min, a high astaxanthin yield of 19.5 pg per cell was obtained, which was about 82% of a conventional volatile organic solvent extraction by strong, 30 000 psi French-pressure-cell homogenization. The maximal astaxanthin-extraction yield from H. pluvialis cells was observed for 12–18 h germination. The germination rate furthermore could be improved by manipulating the nutritional composition (especially the nitrate concentration) of the culture medium. In light of these results, it can be posited that natural germination following the principles of green chemistry can be a uniquely simple method of robust microalgal cyst cell pretreatment and extraction of astaxanthin with room-temperature ILs.

Two microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus acuminatus, were batch cultivated separately in two types of diluted liquid digestates. The first digestate (ADPP) was obtained from a mesophilic laboratory digester treating biosludge from a pulp and paper industry wastewater treatment plant. The second digestate (ADMW) was collected from a full-scale mesophilic anaerobic digester treating-mixed municipal wastewater treatment sludge. The highest biomass production (as volatile suspended solids, VSS), 8.2–9.4 g L−1, was obtained with S. acuminatus in ADPP. C. vulgaris in ADMW had the lowest biomass production, reaching 2.0 g L−1. Both microalgae removed ammonium efficiently from ADPP (99.9% removal) while the final ammonium removal efficiencies from ADMW with S. acuminatus and C. vulgaris were only 44.0 and 23.8%, respectively. The phosphate removal efficiencies from both ADPP and ADMW were higher than 96.9% with both microalgae. The highest carbohydrate content (60.5%) was obtained with S. acuminatus cultivated in ADPP. Scenedesmus acuminatus in ADPP showed one of the highest biomass production yields that have been reported for microalgae in real wastewater-derived nutrient sources. Consequently, this combination is promising for developing biorefinery and biofuel applications in the pulp and paper industry. acceptedVersion

In the present study, a simple magnetic-particle recycling strategy was developed for harvest of the oleaginous microalga Chlorella sp. KR-1. The method entails the flocculation of microalgal cells and bare-Fe3O4 magnetic particles (bMP) by electrostatic attraction and the subsequent recovery of the bMP from the harvested flocs by electrostatic repulsion below and above the isoelectric points (IEP), respectively. For 10 recycles, the bMP showed 94-99% and 90-97% harvest and recovery efficiencies, respectively. Furthermore, neither the use of bMP nor pH adjustment showed any adverse effect on the microalgal cell growth or the co-existing bacterial species, as confirmed from the subsequent medium-recycling test and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis.

Objective To evaluate fatty acid composition and the antimicrobial activity of the major fraction of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) extracts from three microalgae collected from freshwater lakes in Theni District, Tamil Nadu, India. Methods Antimicrobial study was carried out by well diffusion method against bacterial as well as fungal pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella sp., Salmonella typhi, Fusarium sp., Cryptococcus sp., Candida sp., and Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus. The FAME profiles were determined through gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector. Results The FAME was found to be radial effective in inhibiting the radial growth of both bacterial and fungal pathogens. The FAME extracts exhibited the antibacterial activity against three clinical pathogens, namely, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Enterobacter sp. with the maximum zone of inhibition of 12.0 mm, 12.0 mm and 11.0 mm, respectively. The FAME showed moderate antifungal activity against Cryptococcus sp. (11.8 mm), Aspergillus niger (10.5 mm), Candida sp. (11.8 mm) and Fusarium sp. (10.4 mm). Gas chromatography-flame ionization detector analysis revealed about 30 different FAMEs. Conclusions We assume that the observed antimicrobial potency may be due to the abundance of erucic acid methyl ester (C22:0), arachidic acid methyl ester (C20:0), palmitic acid methyl ester (C16:0), cis-11-eicosenoicmethyl ester (C20:1), cis-11, 14-eicosadienoic acid methyl ester (C20:2) and linolenic acid methyl ester (C18:3) in FAMEs which appears to be promising to treat microbial diseases.

Contamination of large-scale microalgal cultures by grazers can cause huge losses in biomass productivity. Here we propose the use of a quaternary ammonium salt cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to eradicate three types of commonly occurring grazers in microalgal cultures: the rotifer Brachionus, the ciliate Sterkiella and the flagellate Paraphysomonas. Low, premicellar doses (≤3 μM) of CTAB rapidly eradicated (within 1–2 d) all three tested grazers from microalgal cultures without significant losses (p

The consumption of energy and resources such as water in the cultivation and harvesting steps should be minimized to reduce the overall cost of biodiesel production from microalgae. Here we present a biocompatible and rapid magnetophoretic harvesting process of oleaginous microalgae by using chitosan–Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticle composites. Over 99% of microalgae was harvested by using the composites and the external magnetic field without changing the pH of culture medium so that it may be reused for microalgal culture without adverse effect on the cell growth. Depending on the working volume (20–500 mL) and the strength of surface magnetic-field (3400–9200 G), the process of harvesting microalgae took only 2–5 min. The method presented here not only utilizes permanent magnets without additional energy for fast harvesting but also recycles the medium effectively for further cultivation of microalgae, looking ahead to a large scale economic microalgae-based biorefinement.

Effective enhancement of neutral lipid (especially triacylglycerol, TAG) content in microalgae is an important issue for commercialization of microalgal biorefineries. Pressure is a key physical factor affecting the morphological, physiological, and biochemical behaviors of organisms. In this paper, we report a new stress-based method for induction of TAG accumulation in microalgae (specifically, Chlorella sp. KR-1 and Ch. sp. AG20150) by very-short-duration application of mild pressure. Pressure treatments of 10-15bar for 2h resulted in a considerable, ∼55% improvement of the 10-100g/Lcells' TAG contents compared with the untreated control. The post-pressure-treatment increase of cytoplasmic TAG granules was further confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Notwithstanding the increased TAG content, the total lipid content was not changed by pressurization, implying that pressure stress possibly induces rapid remodeling/transformation of algal lipids rather than de novo biosynthesis of TAG.

Improving lipid productivity and preventing overgrowth of contaminating bacteria are critical issues relevant to the commercialization of the mixotrophic microalgae cultivation process. In this paper, we report the use of magnesium aminoclay (MgAC) nanoparticles for enhanced lipid production from oleaginous Chlorella sp. KR-1 with simultaneous control of KR-1-associated bacterial growth in mixotrophic cultures with glucose as the model substrate. Addition of 0.01–0.1 g/L MgAC promoted microalgal biomass production better than the MgAC-less control, via differential biocidal effects on microalgal and bacterial cells (the latter being more sensitive to MgAC’s bio-toxicity than the former). The inhibition effect of MgAC on co-existing bacteria was, as based on density-gradient-gel-electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis, largely dosage-dependent and species-specific. MgAC also, by inducing an oxidative stress environment, increased both the cell size and lipid content of KR-1, resulting in a considerable, ∼25% improvement of mixotrophic algal lipid productivity (to ∼410 mg FAME/L/d) compared with the untreated control.

Microalgae are a potential source of biodiesel. The urgent need for an alternative and sustainable energy has created renewed interest to analyze the microalgae for biodiesel production. In this study, a dominant indigenous freshwater unicellular microalgal strain Chlorella sp., BUM11008 , was examined for its efficiency towards biodiesel production. The organism was evaluated for ability to yield high of biomass and lipid productivity under normal and various nutrient-deprived conditions (nitrogen, phosphate-potassium, iron, and all three combined). Under normal conditions, after 20 days of cultivation in Chu10 medium, the organism yielded a biomass of 2.58 ± 0.07 g/L, with lipid content of 312.16 ± 2.38 mg/g. In a two-phase culturing system upon nutrition deprivation, the organism was able to respond with different levels of lipid accumulation. Among the various post-harvest treatments, nitrogen deprivation yielded the highest lipid productivity of 53.96 ± 0.63 mg/L d, followed by the combined deprivation condition (49.16 ± 1.36 mg/L d). FAME profiles of the isolate were found to meet the requirements of international standards for biodiesel. The study leads to the conclusion that the two-phase culturing system with nitrogen starvation as post-harvest treatment would be suitable for gaining maximum biomass productivity, and lipid content of high quality fatty acids. Thus, it is proposed that Chlorella sp., BUM11008 , would be a promising candidate for sustainable biodiesel production.

In recent decades, microalgae have acquired attention from pharmaceuticals to biofuels. The growth and total chorophyll content of three economically important microalgae (Chlorella sp. NTAI01, Monoraphidium sp. NTAI02 and Scenedesmus sp. NTAI03) isolated from fresh water body in five selected culture media on different days of incubation was studied for biomass production. Biomass feedstock has reviewed great interest to be used as an alternative and renewable source of energy. All the three organisms showed varied growth pattern and total chlorophyll content in different culture media. However the growth and total chlorophyll content of Chlorella sp. NTAI01 and Monoraphidium sp. NTAI02 was optimum in Half strength Chu 10 medium. In case of Scenedesmus sp. NTAI03 the growth and total chlorophyll content was found to be significant in Bolds Basal medium. The Acidified Bolds Basal medium and BG-11 medium fairly supports the growth of all the three microalgae whereas the Modified Hoaglands medium does not support the microalgal growth. The optimized growth medium will be used for biomass production for biofuel application.

Exploitation of magnetic flocculants is regarded as a very promising energy-saving approach to microalgae harvesting. However, its practical applicability remains limited, mainly because of the problem of the postharvest separation of magnetic flocculants from microalgal flocs, which is crucial both for magnetic-flocculant recycling and high-purity microalgal biomasses, but which is also a very challenging and energy-consuming step. In the present study, we designed magnetic nanoflocculants dually functionalizable by two different organosilane compounds, (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and octyltriethoxysilane (OTES), which flocculate negatively charged microalgae and are readily detachable at the water-nonpolar organic solvent (NOS) interface only by application of an external magnetic field. APTES functionalization imparts a positive zeta potential charge (29.6 mV) to magnetic nanoflocculants, thereby enabling microalgae flocculation with 98.5% harvesting efficiency (with a dosage of 1.6 g of dMNF/g of cells). OTES functionalization imparts lipophilicity to magnetic nanoflocculants to make them compatible with NOS, thus effecting efficient separation of magnetic flocculants passing through the water-NOS interface sieve from hydrophilic microalgae. Our new energy-saving approach to microalgae harvesting concentrates microalgal cultures (∼1.5 g/L) up to 60 g/L, which can be directly connected to the following process of NOS-assisted wet lipid extraction or biodiesel production, and therefore provides, by simplifying multiple downstream processes, a great potential cost reduction in microalgae-based biorefinement.

Industrial CO2-rich flue-gases, owing to their eco-toxicity, have yet to be practically exploited for microalgal biomass and lipid production. In this study, various autotrophic and mixotrophic culture modes for an oleaginous microalga, Chlorella sp. KR-1 were compared for the use in actual coal-fired flue-gas. Among the mixotrophic conditions tested, the fed-batch feedings of glucose and the supply of air in dark cycles showed the highest biomass (561 mg/L d) and fatty-acid methyl-ester (168 mg/L d) productivities. This growth condition also resulted in the maximal population of microalgae and the minimal population and types of KR-1-associated-bacterial species as confirmed by particle-volume-distribution and denaturing-gradient-gel-electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses. Furthermore, microalgal lipid produced was assessed, based on its fatty acid profile, to meet key biodiesel standards such as saponification, iodine, and cetane numbers.

Flue gases mainly consist of CO2 that can be utilized to facilitate microalgal culture for bioenergy production. In the present study, to evaluate the feasibility of the utilization of flue gas from a coal-burning power plant, an indigenous and high-CO2-tolerant oleaginous microalga, Chlorella sp. KR-1, was cultivated under mixotrophic conditions, and the results were evaluated. When the culture was mediated by flue gas, highest biomass (0.8 g cells/L·d) and FAME (fatty acid methyl esters) productivity (121 mg/L·d) were achieved in the mixotrophic mode with 5 g/L glucose, 5 mM nitrate, and a flow rate of 0.2 vvm. By contrast, the photoautotrophic cultivation resulted in a lower biomass (0.45 g cells/L·d) and a lower FAME productivity (60.2 mg/L·d). In general, the fatty acid profiles of Chlorella sp. KR-1 revealed meaningful contents (>40 % of saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids) under the mixotrophic condition, which enables the obtainment of a better quality of biodiesel than is possible under the autotrophic condition. Conclusively then, it was established that a microalgal culture mediated by flue gas can be improved by adoption of mixotrophic cultivation systems.

Significance and Impact of the Study: Chlorpyrifos induces oxidative stress in Chroococcus turgidus NTMS12. A strong inference was made on increased activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and proline content and lowering the level of unsaturated fatty acids under the pesticide-exposed condition. These significant changes are the defence mechanisms against the oxidative stress. Thus, this organism holds great promise in resisting toxic pesticide. Abstract This study investigated the effect of pesticide chlorpyrifos (CP) on a freshwater cyanobacterium Chroococcus turgidus NTMS12. The changes in chlorophyll-a, proline, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) activities and fatty acid composition of the test organism were analysed. Organism was grown at 6, 9 and 12 mg l 1 of CP, and based on the chlorophyll-a content, 6 mg l 1 of CP was found to be the tolerable concentration. Hence, 6 mg l 1 of CP was taken to evaluate the concentration of proline and activities of SOD and CAT at 48-h exposure. The changes in the fatty acid profile were analysed after 7 days of exposure. Upon pesticide exposure, increased concentration of proline and activities of SOD and CAT were found. Significant changes in fatty acid profile have also been observed. However, polyunsaturated fatty acid content was decreased in treated cultures when compared with the untreated control. Changes in biochemical activities indicate that cyanobacteria C. turgidus NTMS12 undergo adaptive changes against CP-induced oxidative stress.

This investigation examined the efficiency of Dolichospermum flos-aquae NTMS07 in the removal of Cr(VI) from exposure water at various concentrations (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 mg/L) over different time intervals of contact (1–5 days). Chromium removal was maximum at 2.5 mg/L, and decreased with increased concentration. The responses of the antioxidative enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were measured, and the composition of fatty acids was evaluated at a concentration of 5 mg Cr/L. Significant increases in the activity levels of SOD and CAT were obtained. The level of total unsaturated fatty acids decreased with exposure to Cr. It is proposed that the observed decrease in total unsaturated fatty acid level is a defense mechanism against Cr-induced oxidative stress and cell membrane damage.

Cr(VI) at 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 mg/l was removed over 1–5 days by a freshwater cyanobacterium, Chroococcus sp. 2.5 mg Cr(VI)/l gave the optimum rate. With 5 mg Cr(VI)/l, activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase were increased. Amounts of palmitic (16:0), stearic (18:0) and oleic acid (18:1) in the cell also increased after exposure to Cr(VI).

The present study evaluates the efficiency of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) obtained from microalgal (Scenedesmus bijugatus var bicellularis) biomass as an antimicrobial agent against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The FAME profiles were determined through Gas Chromatography (GC) with a Flame Ionization detector (FID). The FAMEs showed inhibitory activity against all three microorganisms and thereby exhibited both anti-bacterial and anti-candidal activity. GC-FID analysis reveals about 30 different FAMEs. Out of these, various pharmacologically active FAMEs like stearic acid methyl ester (C18:0) (0.6% w/w), oleic acid methyl ester (C18:1) (1% w/w), linoleic acid methyl ester (C18:2) (1.40% w/w), linolenic acid methyl ester (C18:3) (6.26%), eicosapentanoic acid methyl ester (C20:5) (1.13% w/w), erucic acid methyl ester (C22:1) (1.03% w/w) and docosahexenoic acid methyl ester (C22:6) (2.27% w/w) were detected, which accounted for the bioactivity. These results clearly indicate that the FAMEs of S. bijugatus var. bicellularis have strong antimicrobial properties and could thus be used as an effective source against microbial diseases.