Print Email Facebook Twitter Influence of silicate on enrichment of highly productive microalgae from a mixed culture Title Influence of silicate on enrichment of highly productive microalgae from a mixed culture Author Mooij, P.R. De Jongh, L.D. Van Loosdrecht, M.C.M. Kleerebezem, R. Faculty Applied Sciences Department BT/Biotechnology Date 2015-08-01 Abstract Microalgae have the potential to supply a biobased society with essential feedstocks like sugar and lipids. Besides being productive, strains used for this purpose should grow fast, be resistant to predators, and have good harvestability properties. Diatoms, a class of siliceous algae, have these and other preferred characteristics. In this paper, we describe the enrichment of microalgae in sequencing batch reactors with and without supply of silicate. Both reactors were operated with a light–dark cycle. To maximize storage compound production, carbon fixation and nitrogen uptake were uncoupled by limiting the availability of nitrate to the dark phase. After ten cycles, a stable culture was established in both reactors. The diatom Nitzschia sp. dominated the silicate-rich reactor, and the green algae Chlamydomonas sp. dominated the silicate-depleted reactor. Over the remaining 27 cycles of the experiment, the microalgal community structure did not change, indicating a highly stable system. Although the dominant microalga was highly dependent on the presence of silicate, the performance of both microalgal enrichments was similar. Polymers of glucose were stored during the nitrogen-limited light period. On organic matter dry weight basis, the sugar content of the biomass increased during the light period from 17?±?4 to 53?±?4 % for the silicate-limited culture, and from 14?±?4 to 43?±?4 % (w w ?1) for the silicate excess culture. These results show that storage compound production can be achieved under various conditions, as long as a selective environment is maintained. Subject mixed culturesselective environmentgreen algaediatomsstorage compounds To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a2e20356-1469-40c2-9750-0baddecd9b7e Publisher Springer ISSN 0921-8971 Source https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0678-2 Source Journal of Applied Phycology, 2015 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2015 The Author(s)This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Files PDF Mooij_2015.pdf 307.28 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:a2e20356-1469-40c2-9750-0baddecd9b7e/datastream/OBJ/view