Assortment of Native Microalgae for Improved Biomass and Lipid Production on Employing Vegetable Waste as a Frugal Cultivation Approach for Biodiesel Application

Microalgae: a multifaceted catalyst for sustainable solutions in renewable energy, food security, and environmental management

This review comprehensively examines the various applications of microalgae, focusing on their significant potential in producing biodiesel and hydrogen, serving as sustainable food sources, and their efficacy in treating both municipal and food-related wastewater. While previous studies have mainly focused on specific applications of microalgae, such as biofuel production or wastewater treatment, this review covers these applications comprehensively. It examines the potential for microalgae to be applied in various industrial sectors such as energy, food security, and environmental management. By bridging these different application areas, this review differs from previous studies in providing an integrated and multifaceted view of the industrial applications of microalgae. Since it is essential to increase the productivity of the process to utilize microalgae for various industrial applications, research trends in different microalgae cultivation processes, including the culture system (e.g., open ponds, closed ponds) or environmental conditions (e.g., pH, temperature, light intensity) to improve the productivity of biomass and valuable substances was firstly analyzed. In addition, microalgae cultivation technologies that can maximize the biomass and valuable substances productivity while limiting the potential for contamination that can occur when utilizing these systems have been described to maximize CO2 reduction. In conclusion, this review has provided a detailed analysis of current research findings and technological innovations, highlighting the important role of microalgae in addressing global challenges related to energy, food supply, and waste management. It has also provided valuable insights into future research directions and potential commercial applications in several bio-related industries, and illustrated how important continued exploration and development in this area is to realize the full potential of microalgae.

From waste to resource: Effects of digested rotten potato supernatant on the growth, total biomass and nutrient composition of Chlorella vulgaris

A study was carried out to evaluate the growth performance of Chlorella vulgaris, a green microalga, in three different concentrations of digested rotten potato supernatant (DRPS) for 16 days. C. vulgaris was grown in 20 % (T1), 40 % (T2), and 60 % (T3) of the DRPS and at the same time in Bold Basal Medium (BBM) as a control (T4). A significantly highest cell density of C. vulgaris was found in T1 (192.83 ± 1.75 × 105 cells mL-1) in comparison to T2 (136.83 ± 5.58 × 105 cells mL-1), and T3 (99.11 ± 5.38 × 105 cells mL-1) (p < 0.001 for all comparisons) while the cell density at T1 (192.83 ± 1.75 × 105 cells mL-1) and T4 (180.907 ± 4.58 × 105 cells mL-1) did not differ significantly (p = 0.227). Moreover, the mean daily division rate of C. vulgaris was significantly higher in T1 (0.340 ± 0.001 divisions day-1) in comparison to other concentrations of DRPS (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). The maximum value of total biomass (1.07 ± 0.10 g L-1) was found in T1 which was statistically similar to those in T4 and T2. In addition, there was no significant difference between the mean maximum values of chlorophyll-a content and optical density of C. vulgaris in T1 and T4. The highest protein content of 42.67 ± 0.57 % was observed in T4 which was significantly higher than T1 (39.43 ± 1.67 %) (p = 0.027). It is also worth mentioning that there was no significant difference in the crude lipid content of the microalgae grown in T1 (10.06 ± 0.17 %) and T4 (9.88 ± 0.14 %) (p = 0.616). Hence, 20 % DRPS can be used as an alternative culture media of BBM for C. vulgaris with a broad aim to accelerate the sustainable advancement of microalgal production.

A Holistic Approach to Circular Bioeconomy Through the Sustainable Utilization of Microalgal Biomass for Biofuel and Other Value-Added Products

Emissions from transportation and industry primarily cause global warming, leading to floods, glacier melt, and rising seas. Widespread greenhouse gas emissions and resulting global warming pose significant risks to the environment, economy, and society. The need for alternative fuels drives the development of third-generation feedstocks: microalgae, seaweed, and cyanobacteria. These microalgae offer traits like rapid growth, high lipid content, non-competition with human food, and growth on non-arable land using brackish or waste water, making them promising for biofuel. These unique phototrophic organisms use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce biofuels, biochemicals, and more. This review delves into the realm of microalgal biofuels, exploring contemporary methodologies employed for lipid extraction, significant value-added products, and the challenges inherent in their commercial-scale production. While the cost of microalgae bioproducts remains high, utilizing wastewater nutrients for cultivation could substantially cut production costs. Furthermore, this review summarizes the significance of biocircular economy approaches, which encompass the utilization of microalgal biomass as a feed supplement and biofertilizer, and biosorption of heavy metals and dyes. Besides, the discussion extends to the in-depth analysis and future prospects on the commercial potential of biofuel within the context of sustainable development. An economically efficient microalgae biorefinery should prioritize affordable nutrient inputs, efficient harvesting techniques, and the generation of valuable by-products.

Distribution, screening and biochemical characterization of indigenous microalgae for bio-mass and bio-energy production potential from three districts of Pakistan

Abstract Trend of biofuel production from microalgal triacylglycerols is enhancing, because this substrate is a good sustainable and advantageous alternative to oil and gas fuel. In the present study, indigenous micro algal isolates were screened from water (n=30) and soil (n=30) samples collected from three districts of Punjab, Pakistan to evaluate their biofuel production potential. The samples were inoculated on BG – 11 agar medium plates by incubating at room temperature of 25°C providing 1000 lux for 16h light cycle followed by 8h of dark cycle for 15 d. Water samples were found to be rich in microalgae and 65.33% microalgae (49 isolates) were isolated from Faisalabad district. On the basis of microscopic morphology microalgal isolates (n=180) were selected and subjected to lipid detection by Nile red staining assay. Nile red positive isolates (n=23) were processed for biochemical (lipid, protein and carbohydrates) characterization. AIN63 isolate showed higher lipids (17.4%) content as detected by micro vanillin assay. Algal isolate AIN128 showed best protein contents (42.91%) detected by Bradford assay and AIN172 isolate showed higher carbohydrate contents (73.83%) as detected by anthrone assay. The selected algal isolates were also analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for confirmation of carbohydrate, protein and lipid analysis. These indigenous algae have the potential for in-vitro biofuel production from agricultural waste.

Enhancing biomass and lipid productivity of a green microalga Parachlorella kessleri for biodiesel production using rapid mutation of atmospheric and room temperature plasma

BACKGROUND

Microalgae, with their high adaptability to various stress conditions and rapid growth, are considered excellent biomass resources for lipid production and biodiesel feedstocks. However, lipid yield and productivity of the natural strains are common bottlenecks in their large-scale use for lipid production, which can be overcome by evolving new strains using conventional and advanced mutagenic techniques. It is challenging to generate microalgae strains capable of high lipid synthesis through natural selection. As a result, random mutagenesis is currently considered a viable option in many scenarios. The objective of this study was to explore atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) as a random mutagenesis technique to obtain high lipid-accumulating mutants of a green microalga for improved biodiesel production.

RESULTS

A green microalgal species was isolated from the Chinese Yellow Sea and identified as Parachlorella kessleri (OM758328). The isolated microalga was subsequently mutated by ARTP to obtain high lipid-accumulating mutants. Based on the growth rate and lipid content, 5 mutants (named M1, M2, M4, M5, and M8) were selected from 15 pre-selected mutants. These five mutants varied in their growth rate from 0.33 to 0.68 day-1, with the lipid content varying between 0.25 g/L in M2 to 0.30 g/L in M8 at 10th day of cultivation. Among the mutants, M8 showed the maximum biomass productivity (0.046 g/L/day) and lipid productivity (20.19 mg/L/day), which were 75% and 44% higher than the wild strain, respectively. The triglyceride (TAG) content of M8 was found to be 0.56 g/L at 16th day of cultivation, which was 1.77-fold higher than that of the wild strain. Furthermore, M8 had the highest saturated fatty acids (C16-18) with the lowermost polyunsaturated fatty acid content, which are favorable properties of a biodiesel feedstock according to international standards.

CONCLUSION

The mutant strain of P. kessleri developed by the ARTP technique exhibited significant improvements in biomass productivity, lipid content, and biodiesel quality. Therefore, the biomass of this mutant microalga could be a potential feedstock for biodiesel production.

Cultivation of microalgae on food waste: Recent advances and way forward

Microalgae are photosynthetic microbes that can synthesize compounds of therapeutic potential with wide applications in the food, bioprocessing and pharmaceutical sector. Recent research advances have therefore, focused on finding suitable economic substrates for the sustainable cultivation of microalgae. Among such substrates, food derived waste specifically from the starch, meat, dairy, brewery, oil and fruit and vegetable processing industries has gained popularity but poses numerous challenges. Pretreatment, dilution of waste water supernatants, mixing of different food waste streams, utilizing two-stage cultivation and other biorefinery approaches have been intensively explored for multifold improvement in microalgal biomass recovery from food waste. This review discusses the advances and challenges associated with cultivation of microalgae on food waste. The review suggests that there is a need to standardize different waste substrates in terms of general composition, genetically engineered microalgal strains, tackling process scalability issues, controlling wastewater toxicity and establishing a waste transportation chain.

Onion waste based-biorefinery for sustainable generation of value-added products

Waste derived from the onion processing sector can be harnessed for the production of organic acids, polyphenols, polysachharides, biofuels and pigments. To sustainably utilize onion processing residues, different biorefinery strategies such as enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation and hydrothermal carbonization have been widely investigated. This review discusses the recent advances in the biorefinery approaches used for valorization of onion processing waste followed by the production of different value-added products from diverse classes of onion waste. The review also highlights the current challenges faced by the bioprocessing sector for the utilization of onion processing waste and perspectives to tackle them.

A cheap two-step cultivation of Phaeodactylum tricornutum for increased TAG production and differential expression of TAG biosynthesis associated genes

A cheap cultivation of microalgae greatly reduces the biodiesel production cost. Subsequently in this study, citric acid and effluents from sugar and tannery industries were used as the nutritional supplements for the improvement of biomass and TAG production in Phaeodactylum tricornutum using two-step cultivation. When compared to control (media without supplementation), a considerable increase in biomass and chlorophyll a was obtained with citric acid (CA) and sugar industry effluent (SIE) supplemented media. In the two-step cultivation method, biomass raised from CA (100mg·L^-1) and SIE (1.5mL·L^-1) supplementations in the first step, viz. biomass production (BP) step was allowed for lipid accumulation in the second step, viz. lipid production (LP) step, and thus yielded enhanced lipids of 11.5 ± 0.7mg·L^-1·day^-1 and 13.5 ± 1.9mg·L^-1·day^-1 respectively, with improved TAG synthesis. Further, differential expression analysis of TAG biosynthetic genes of P. tricornutum under single-step and two-step cultivation modes were performed, and the gene expression patterns were studied.