• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.135-146
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• 2020

This study was aimed to investigate the possibility of using raw and anaerobically-digested piggery wastewater as culture media for a green microalga Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris). Due to high concentration of ammonia and dark color, the microalga did not grow well in this wastewater. In order to solve this problem, air stripping and NaOCl-treatment were applied to reduce the concentration of NH₃-N and the color intensity from the wastewater. Algal growth was monitored in terms of specific growth rate, biomass productivity, and nutrient removal efficiency. As a result, C. vulgaris grew without any sign of inhibition in air-stripped and 10-folds diluted anaerobically-digested piggery wastewater with enhanced biomass productivity of 0.57 g/L·d and nutrient removal of 98.7-99.8% for NH₃-N and 41.0-62.5% for total phosphorus. However, NaOCl-treatment showed no significant effect on growth of C. vulgaris, although dark color was removed greatly. Interestingly, despite that the soluble organic concentration after air stripping was still high, the biomass productivity was 4.4 times higher than BG-11. Moreover, air stripping was identically effective for raw piggery wastewater as for anaerobic digestate. Therefore, it was concluded that air stripping was a very effective method for culturing microalgae and removing nutrients from raw and anaerobically-digested piggery wastewaters.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.82-92
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• 2020

Since swine wastewater contains high concentrations of nutrients and heavy metals, it deteriorates water quality when discharged. Compared to conventional methods, bioremediation can be a promising method for its treatment. Specifically, microalgae have the potential to remove these pollutants. In this study, the removal of nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) and heavy metals (copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn)) from swine wastewater by Ankistrodesmus bibraianus was evaluated and the organism's optimal growth conditions were investigated. The optimal growth conditions were established at 28℃, pH 7, and light and dark cycles of 14:10 h. The removal efficiencies of N and P by a single treatment (500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 mg L^-1) ranged from 22.9 to 80.6% and from 11.9 to 50.0%, respectively. The removal efficiencies of N and P in the binary treatments ranged from 16.4 to 58.3% and from 7.80 to 49.8%, respectively. The removal efficiencies of Cu and Zn by a single treatment(10, 30, and 50 mg L^-1) ranged from 15.5 to 81.5% and from 6.28 to 34.3%, respectively. Similarly, the removal efficiencies of Cu and Zn in the binary treatments ranged from 16.7 to 74.5% and from 5.58 to 27.5%, respectively. In addition, the study showed the optimal growth conditions for microalgae and the removal efficiency of nutrients (N and P) and heavy metals (Cu and Zn), which could be applied to swine wastewater. Based on the results in this study, it appears that Ankistrodesmus bibraianus could be used for the removal of nutrients and heavy metals present in swine wastewater.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 1999

A red tide organism, Amphidinium carterae was incubated under different iron/chelator and nitrate concentrations to investigate the factors controlling the growth. The chelation capacity played a critical role in regulating the nitrate reductase (NR) activity and in vivo fluorescence of this organism. However, there was a significant difference between the NR activity and in vivo fluorescence in response to trace metals and chelator treatments. In vivo fluorescence was the highest in FeEDTA 10 ${\mu}$M treatments and the lowest in DTPA 10 ${\mu}$M treatments. This indicates that the availability of the trace metal is important in regulating the in vivo fluorescence of this photosynthetic microalgae In contrast, NR activity showed the highest values in trace metal enriched treatments, and trace metal + DTPA treatments showed fairly high NR activities. This suggests that DTPA treatment did not hinder the NR activity as much as it did in vivo fluorescence. In vivo fluorescence and NR activity increased with nitrate concentration of up to 50 ${\mu}$M and remained relatively constant or the rate of increase decreased above that concentration, indicating that initial nitrate concentration of higher than a certain level would not accelerate the growth of A. carterae. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the reason for the difference in timing sequence between the NR and in vivo fluorescence in response to different metal treatments and chelation capacity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1206-1212
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• 2009

Growth rates, photosystem II photosynthesis, and the levels of chlorophyll $\alpha$ and secondary metabolites of Chlorella ovalis were estimated to determine if they were enhanced by the addition of swine urine (BM) or cow compost water (EP) that had been fermented by soil bacteria to deep seawater (DSW) in an attempt to develop media that enabled batch mass culture at lower costs. Growth of C. ovalis in f/2, f/2-EDTA+BM60%, DSW+BM30%, and DSW+EP60% was enhanced and maintained in the log phase of growth for 16 days. The cell densities of C. ovalis in DSW+EP60% ($4.1{\times}10^6$ Cells/ml) were higher than those of f/2 ($2.9{\times}10^6$ Cells/ml), f/2-E+BM60% ($3.7{\times}10^6$ Cells/ml), and DSW+BM30% ($2.7{\times}10^6$ Cells/ml). The growth rate was also more favorable for C. ovalis cultured in DSW+EP60% ($0.15\;day^{-1}$) than that of C. ovalis cultured in the control medium (f/2) ($0.12\;day^{-1}$). Furthermore, the chlorophyll a concentration of C. ovalis cultured in DSW+EP60% (4.56 mg/l) was more than 2-fold greater than that of C. ovalis cultured in f/2 (2.35 mg/l). Moreover, the maximal quantum yields of photo system II at 470 nm (Fv/Fm) were significantly higher in organisms cultured at f/2-E+BM60% (0.53) and DSW+EP60% (0.52) than in the other treatment groups. Finally, Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy revealed that C. ovalis grown in DSW+EP60% had more typical peaks and various biochemical pool shifts than those grown in other types of media. Taken together, the results of this study indicate that the use of DSW+EP60% to culture C. ovalis can reduce maintenance expenses and promote higher yields.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1957-1968
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• 2019

Tetraselmis is a green algal genus, some of whose species are important in aquaculture as well as biotechnology. In algal culture, fluorescent lamps, traditional light source for culturing algae, are now being replaced by a cost-effective light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In this study, we investigated the effect of LED light of different wavelengths (white, red, yellow, and blue) on the growth of Tetraselmis suecica and its associated microbial community structures using the next-generation sequencing (NGS). The fastest growth rate of T. suecica was shown in the red light, whereas the slowest was in yellow. The highest OTUs (3426) were identified on day 0, whereas the lowest ones (308) were found on day 15 under red light. The top 100 OTUs associated with day 0 and day 5 cultures of T. suecica under the red and yellow LED were compared. Only 26 OTUs were commonly identified among four samples. The highest numbers of unique OTUs were identified at day 0, indicating the high degree of initial microbial diversity of the T. suecica inoculum. The red light-unique OTUs occupied 34.98%, whereas the yellow-specific OTUs accounted for only 2.2%. This result suggested a higher degree of interaction in T. suecica culture under the red light, where stronger photosynthesis occurs. Apparently, the microbial community associated with T. suecica related to the oxygen produced by algal photosynthesis. This result may expand our knowledge about the algae-bacteria consortia, which would be useful for various biotechnological applications including wastewater treatment, bioremediation, and sustainable aquaculture.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.514-523
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• 2020

Plants are exposed to various types of stresses in their surroundings, and stress-resistant and regulatory proteins are produced as defense mechanisms. Abscisic acid is well known for its important role in stress signals as a phytohormone and is also involved in the physiological reactions of plants such as leaf senescence and seed dormancy. In particular, it has been found to perform a variety of functions in other biological systems, such as animals and microalgae, not plants. In this review, the biosynthesis and signaling process of abscisic acid and its function were investigated and the future prospects for the industrial application of abscisic acid in various biotechnologies, including agriculture, biomedical and industrial biotechnology, have been proposed based on study of emerging applications such as increased crop yields, disease treatment development and bioenergy production.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.137-144
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• 2012

Among various pretreatment processes for bioethanol production, extrusion pretreatment, one of cheap and simple process was investigated to efficiently produce fermentable sugars from micro alga, Chlorella sp. The biomass was pretreated in a single screw extruder at five different barrel temperatures of 45, 50, 55, 60 and $65^{\circ}C$, respectively with five screw rotation speed of 10, 50, 100, 150 and 200 rpm. The pretreated biomass was reacted with two different hydrolyzing enzymes of cellulase and amyloglucosidase since the biomass contained different types of carbohydrates, compared to cellulose of agricultural by-products such wheat and corn stovers, etc. In general, higher glucose conversion yield was obtained as 13.24 (%, w/w) at $55^{\circ}C$ of barrel temperature and 100 rpm of screw speed conditions. In treating 5 FPU/glucan of cellulase and 150 Unit/mL of amyloglucosidase, ca. 64% of cellulose and 40% of polysaccharides in the micro alga were converted into glucose, which was higher yields than those from other reported data without applying an extrusion process. 84% of the fermentable sugars obtained from the hyrolyzing processes were fermented into ethanol in considering 50% of theoretical maximum fermentation yield of the yeast. These results implied that high speed extrusion could be suitable as a pretreatment process for the production of bioethanol from Chlorella sp.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.563-572
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• 2017

The Electrocoagulation-Flotation (ECF) process has great potential in wastewater treatment. ECF technology is effective in the removal of colloidal particles, oil-water emulsion, organic pollutants such as microalgae, and heavy metals. Numerous studies have been conducted on ECF; however, many of them used a conventional plate-type aluminum anode. In this study, we determined the effect of changing operational parameters such as power supply time, applied current, NaCl concentration, and pH on the turbidity removal efficiency of kaoline. We also determined the effects of different electrolyte types (NaCl, $MgSO_4$, $CaCl_2$, $Na_2SO_4$, and tap water), as well as the differences caused by using a plate-type and mesh-type aluminum anode, on the turbidity removal efficiency. The results showed that the optimal values of ECF time, applied current, NaCl concentration, and pH were 5 min, 0.35 A, 0.4 g/L NaCl in distilled water, and pH 7, respectively. The results also revealed that the turbidity removal efficiency of kaoline in different electrolytes decreased in the following sequence, given the same conductivity: tap water > $CaCl_2$ > $MgSO_4$ > NaCl > $Na_2SO_4$. The turbidity removal efficiency of the mesh-type aluminum anode was significantly greater than the plate-type aluminum anode.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.143-155
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• 2013

Four membranes were used to separate Chlorella sp. from their culture medium in cross-flow microfiltration (MF) experiments: cellulose acetate (CA), cellulose nitrate (CN), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF). It was found that the hydrophilic CA and CN membranes with a pore size of 1.2 ${\mu}m$ exhibited the best performances among all the membranes in terms of permeation flux. The hydrophobicity of each membrane material was determined by measuring the angle between the water (liquid) and membrane (solid). Contact angle measurements showed that deionized (DI) water had almost adsorbed onto the surfaces of the CA and CN membranes, which gave $0.00^{\circ}$ contact angle values. The PP and PVDF membranes were more hydrophobic, giving contact angle values of $95.97^{\circ}$ and $126.63^{\circ}$, respectively. Although the pure water flux increased with increasing pore diameter (0.8 < 1.2 < 3.0 ${\mu}m$) in hydrophilic CA and CN membranes, the best performance in term of filtration rate for filtering a microalgae suspension was attained by membranes with a pore size of 1.2 ${\mu}m$. The fouled membrane pore sizes and pore blocking were inspected using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). MF with large pore diameters was more sensitive to fouling that contributed to intermediate blocking, where the size of the membrane pores is almost equivalent to that of cells.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.360-367
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to study the different long term effects of consumption of dietary oil sources with varying omega-6/omega-3 (${\omega}-6/{\omega}-3$) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) ratios on bone marrow fatty acid level, ex vivo prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) release, and mineral content of bone in rabbits. MATERIALS/METHODS: For this purpose, weaning and female New Zealand white rabbits were purchased and randomly divided into five groups and offered ad libitum diets containing 70 g/kg of added oil for 100 days. The dietary lipid treatments were formulated to provide the following ratios of ${\omega}-6/{\omega}-3$ fatty acids: 8.68 soy bean oil (SBO control), 21.75 sesame oil (SO), 0.39 fish oil (FO), 0.63 algae oil (DHA), and 0.68 algae oils (DHA/ARA). DHA and ARA are two types of marine microalgae of the genus Crypthecodinium cohnii. RESULTS: The dietary treatments had significant effects on the bone marrow fatty acids of rabbits. Rabbits fed the FO diet, containing the highest ${\omega}-3$ PUFA concentration, and those fed the SBO diet showed the highest ${\omega}-6$ PUFA. On the other hand, a positive correlation was observed between Ex vivo $PGE_2$ level and the ${\omega}-6/{\omega}-3$ dietary ratio. Significant effects of dietary treatment on femur Ca, P, Mg, and Zn contents were observed in both genders. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of the current study clearly demonstrated that dietary PUFA, particularly ${\omega}-6/{\omega}-3$ and ARA/EPA ratios are important factors in determining bone marrow fatty acid profile, and this in turn determines the capacity of bone for synthesis of $PGE_2$, thereby reducing bone resorption and improving bone mass during growth.