Biodegradable branched cationic starch with high C/N ratio for Chlorella vulgaris cells concentration: Regulating microalgae flocculation performance by pH

Performance, mechanism regulation and resource recycling of bacteria-algae symbiosis system for wastewater treatment: A review

The bacteria-algae synergistic wastewater treatment process not only efficiently eliminates nutrients and absorbs heavy metals, but also utilizes photosynthesis to convert light energy into chemical energy, generating valuable bioresource. The study systematically explores the formation, algal species, and regulatory strategies of the bacterial-algal symbiosis system. It provides a detailed analysis of various interaction mechanisms, with a particular focus on nutrient exchange, signal transduction, and gene transfer. Additionally, the efficacy of the system in removing nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals, as well as its role in CO2 reduction and bioresource recycling, is thoroughly elaborated. Potential future research of bacteria-algae cell factory producing bioenergy production, feed or fertilizers are summarized. This paper clearly presents effective strategies for efficiently removing pollutants, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting resource recycling in the field of wastewater treatment. It also provides recommendations for further research on utilizing microbial-algal symbiotic systems to remove novel pollutants from wastewater and extract value-added products from the resulting biomass.

New insights into Chlorella vulgaris applications

Environmental pollution is a big challenge that has been faced by humans in contemporary life. In this context, fossil fuel, cement production, and plastic waste pose a direct threat to the environment and biodiversity. One of the prominent solutions is the use of renewable sources, and different organisms to valorize wastes into green energy and bioplastics such as polylactic acid. Chlorella vulgaris, a microalgae, is a promising candidate to resolve these issues due to its ease of cultivation, fast growth, carbon dioxide uptake, and oxygen production during its growth on wastewater along with biofuels, and other productions. Thus, in this article, we focused on the potential of Chlorella vulgaris to be used in wastewater treatment, biohydrogen, biocement, biopolymer, food additives, and preservation, biodiesel which is seen to be the most promising for industrial scale, and related biorefineries with the most recent applications with a brief review of Chlorella and polylactic acid market size to realize the technical/nontechnical reasons behind the cost and obstacles that hinder the industrial production for the mentioned applications. We believe that our findings are important for those who are interested in scientific/financial research about microalgae.

Different responses of marine microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum upon exposures to WAF and CEWAF of crude oil: A case study coupled with stable isotopic signatures

Increasing use of chemical dispersants for oil spills highlights the need to understand their adverse effects on marine microalgae and nutrient assimilation because the toxic components of crude oil can be more bioavailable. We employed the crude oil water-accommodated fraction (WAF) and chemically enhanced WAF (CEWAF) to compare different responses in marine microalgae (Phaeodactylum tricornutum) coupled with stable isotopic signatures. The concentration and proportion of high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW PAHs), which are key toxic components in crude oil, increased after dispersant addition. CEWAF exposure caused higher percent growth inhibition and a lower chlorophyll-a level of microalgae than those after WAF exposure. Compared with WAF exposure, CEWAF led to an enhancement in the self-defense mechanism of P. tricornutum, accompanied by an increased content of extracellular polymeric substances. 13C-depletion and carbon assimilation were altered in P. tricornutum, suggesting more HMW PAHs could be utilized as carbon sources by microalgae under CEWAF. CEWAF had no significant effects on the isotopic fractionation or assimilation of nitrogen in P. tricornutum. Our study unveiled the impact on the growth, physiological response, and nutrient assimilation of microalgae upon WAF and CEWAF exposures. Our data provide new insights into the ecological effects of dispersant applications for coastal oil spills.

Upcycling harmful algal blooms into short-chain organic matters assisted with cellulose-based flocculant

Upcycling harmful algal blooms (HABs) into short-chain organic matters (SCOMs) presents a significantly underexplored opportunity for addressing environmental concerns and achieving circular economy. But there are challenges of low HABs harvesting and SCOMs conversion efficiencies. To address these issues, a novel cellulose-based flocculant derived from abundant agricultural waste (wheat straw) was developed. This flocculant possesses high surface positive charge to aggregate negatively charged microalgae cells via charge neutralization mechanism, resulting in HABs harvesting efficiency of 97 %. Moreover, the flocculant can serve as a carbon to nitrogen (C/N) regulator to optimize the harvested slurry properties for downstream fermentation. Following hydrothermal pretreatment for one hour, the HABs-flocculant slurry was effectively converted into SCOMs with a total energy output of 64.3 kJ/L and energy conversion efficiency of 67 %, in which SCOMs was major contributor (92 %). This work may inspire eco-friendly and cost-effective approach for HABs disposal with extra benefits of SCOMs production.

Molecular dynamic modeling of EPS and inorganic/organic flocculants during sludge dual conditioning

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are the key components determining the dewatering behavior of wastewater sludge. However, current technical optimization of sludge conditioning for dewatering is limited by the poor understanding of the conditioner-EPS interactions at molecular levels. Herein, a combination of molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, dewaterability assessment and EPS characterization was used to reveal the sludge dewatering mechanisms using dual conditioning processes (prevalent inorganic (poly aluminum chloride (PAC)) and organic (poly dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride (PDDA)). Results suggested that PAC and PDDA bridged the biopolymers mainly through electrostatic interactions, promoting the agglomeration of biopolymers and reducing their contact probability with water molecules. Water molecules were tightly bound to EPS mainly through hydrogen bonding with polar oxygen-containing functional groups. The adsorption of PAC and PDDA on hydrophilic components reduced the molecular polarity of biopolymers and altered the conformation of water molecules in the hydration shell, resulting in a decreased hydration capacity of EPS and the release of bound water, and sludge dewaterability was improved. PAC was found to be more effective than PDDA in disrupting the hydrogen bonding between water molecules and EPS, especially the protein β-sheet structure inside the molecular clusters with its high charge strength and diffusivity. Sludge bound water decreased by 73.16 % after PAC conditioning. In addition, PDDA exhibited superior agglomeration ability to biopolymers and promoted the electrostatic interaction between PAC and polar groups during dual conditioning. The strength and hydrophobicity of EPS molecular clusters were thus enhanced, and the conditioning efficiency was improved. This study offers molecular-level insights into the coagulation treatment process of sludge and provides theoretical references for process optimization and new conditioner development.

Biochemical responses of freshwater microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana to combined exposure of Zn(Ⅱ) and estrone with simultaneous pollutants removal

With the development of livestock industry, contaminants such as divalent zinc ions (Zn (Ⅱ)) and estrone are often simultaneously detected in livestock wastewater. Nevertheless, the combined toxicity of these two pollutants on microalgae is still unclear. Moreover, microalgae have the potential for biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals and organic compounds. Thus, this study investigated the joint effects of Zn (Ⅱ) and estrone on microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana, in terms of growth, photosynthetic activity and biomolecules, as well as pollutants removal by algae. Interestingly, a low Zn (Ⅱ) concentration promoted C. sorokiniana growth and photosynthetic activity, while the high concentration experienced inhibition. As the increase of estrone concentration, chlorophyll a content increased continuously to resist the environmental stress. Concurrently, the secretion of extracellular polysaccharides and proteins by algae increased with exposure to Zn (Ⅱ) and estrone, reducing toxicity of pollutants to microalgae. Reactive oxygen species and superoxide dismutase activity increased as the increase of pollutant concentration after 96 h cultivation, but high pollutant concentrations resulted in damage of cells, as proved by increased MDA content. Additionally, C. sorokiniana displayed remarkable removal efficiency for Zn (Ⅱ) and estrone, reaching up to 86.14% and 84.96% respectively. The study provides insights into the biochemical responses of microalgae to pollutants and highlights the potential of microalgae in pollutants removal.

Microalgae as Raw Materials for Aquafeeds: Growth Kinetics and Improvement Strategies of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Production

Studies have shown that ancient cultures used microalgae as food for centuries. Currently, scientific reports highlight the value of nutritional composition of microalgae and their ability to accumulate polyunsaturated fatty acids at certain operational conditions. These characteristics are gaining increasing interest for the aquaculture industry which is searching for cost-effective replacements for fish meal and oil because these commodities are one of the most significant operational expenses and their dependency has become a bottleneck for their sustainable development of the aquaculture industry. This review is aimed at highlighting the use of microalgae as polyunsaturated fatty acid source in aquaculture feed formulations, despite their scarce production at industrial scale. Moreover, this document includes several approaches to improve microalgae production and to increase the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids with emphasis in the accumulation of DHA, EPA, and ARA. Furthermore, the document compiles several studies which prove microalgae-based aquafeeds for marine and freshwater species. Finally, the study explores the aspects that intervene in production kinetics and improvement strategies with possibilities for upscaling and facing main challenges of using microalgae in the commercial production of aquafeeds.

A rapid, efficient and eco-friendly approach for simultaneous biomass harvesting and bioproducts extraction from microalgae: Dual flocculation between cationic surfactants and bio-polymer

Microalgal biomass harvesting and cell disruption are the main bottlenecks for downstream processing of microalgae such as high-value bioproducts extraction and biofuels production. In this study, we evaluated the performance of dual flocculation between cationic surfactants and bio-polymer of chitosan for simultaneous biomass harvesting and bioproducts extraction from Chlorella sorokiniana microalgae. First, the effects of individual natural flocculants of chitosan and two cationic surfactants: cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) on biomass harvesting were studied. Next, the synergistic effect of dual flocculation between the cationic surfactants and chitosan on harvesting efficiency, time and flocculant dosage was investigated. Finally, we evaluated the potential of high value bioproducts extraction from microalgae after the individual and dual flocculation processes. Zeta potential analysis and microscopic images were employed to achieve mechanistic understanding. Maximum biomass harvesting efficiencies of 85 %, 88 % and 78 % were achieved using individual flocculants of chitosan, CTAB and DTAB, under their optimum dosages of 100, 400 and 4000 mg/L, respectively. A significant synergistic effect of dual flocculation between chitosan (C) and cationic surfactants on biomass harvesting efficiency (CTAB-C: 99 % and DTAB-C: 97 %), settling time (CTAB-C: 2 min and DTAB-C: 5 min) and optimum dosage of surfactants (CTAB-C: 100 mg/L and DTAB-C: 1000 mg/L) was observed. The synergistic effect was associated with multiple flocculation mechanisms of charge neutralization and bridging induced by cationic surfactants and chitosan, respectively. Furthermore, bioproducts recovery efficiencies of 12 %, 25 % and 15 % of cell dry weight were achieved for protein, carbohydrate and lipid, respectively by using dual flocculation of CTAB surfactant and chitosan at much lower dosage of 100 mg/L.

Thermodynamic and kinetic studies on harmful algal blooms harvesting by novel etherified cationic straw flocculant

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are growing threats that cause tens of billion dollars economic loss annually. Aiming at efficient disposal of HABs, a cheap and eco-friendly cationic straw was developed by etherification of wheat straw, which replaced hydroxyl groups on cellulose by quaternary ammonium groups. It endowed the cationic straw with high positive charge and achieved 93.92% of harvesting efficiency by enhancing HABs cells aggregation via charge neutralization. Different from inorganic salts-based flocculants, HABs harvesting by the cationic straw is a spontaneous and exothermic process with negative ΔG° and ΔH° under all adsorption conditions. Thermodynamics and kinetics analysis elucidated that HABs adsorption process by cationic straw were mainly driven by physical forces. Together, cationic straw preparation and HABs harvesting processes were comprehensively optimized with orthogonal experiments. The work may inspire cost-effective HABs disposal and fill knowledge gaps of process nature for HABs harvesting.

Monitoring particulate composition changes during the flocculation process using polarized light scattering

Monitoring the particulate composition changes during the flocculation process is still challenging for the research community. We use an experimental setup based on polarized light scattering to measure the polarization states of the scattered light of the individual particles. We build a classifier based on the support vector machine and feed it with the measured parameters. Results show that the classifier can effectively classify the particulate compositions, such as the sediment particles, flocculants, and flocs, which can be used to monitor the particulate composition changes during the flocculation process. Discussions on the intensity and polarization parameters find that the polarization parameters play a vital role in the classification of the particulate compositions in the flocculation suspensions. Additionally, the further analysis of the experimental data and the related simulations show that the degree of polarization can be an indicator of the flocculation process. We prove that the method based on polarized light scattering may be a potential in situ monitoring tool in the future for the study of the flocculation process.

Efficient Bioflocculation of Chlorella vulgaris with a Chitosan and Walnut Protein Extract

Simple Summary

With the increase in population size, global climate changes, and the improvement of living standards, the fossil fuel resources may run out in the future. Microalgae have been considered the next generation of sustainable and renewable feedstock to produce biofuel and a large spectrum of high-value products, such as healthy oils, carotenoids, and proteins. Unlike terrestrial plants, the production of added-value chemicals from microalgal species is not seasonal; they can be grown under climate-independent conditions in bioreactors; can use wastewater as a source of nutrients, contributing to wastewater treatment; and can convert CO₂ into organic compounds more efficiently. However, the utilization of microalgal biomass is heavily dependent on microalgal biomass harvesting and concentration technology. Flocculation represents a relatively low-cost and efficient approach for the harvesting of microalgal biomass at a large scale. However, in traditional flocculation, most of the chemical flocculants covalently bind to the microalgal surfaces, contaminating the final product, which significantly limits their application. This study aims to develop an efficient and convenient bioflocculation technique to harvest microalgae.

Abstract

Bioflocculation represents an attractive technology for harvesting microalgae with the potential additive effect of flocculants on the production of added-value chemicals. Chitosan, as a cationic polyelectrolyte, is widely used as a non-toxic, biodegradable bioflocculant for many algal species. The high cost of chitosan makes its large-scale application economically challenging, which triggered research on reducing its amount using co-flocculation with other components. In our study, chitosan alone at a concentration 10 mg/L showed up to an 89% flocculation efficiency for Chlorella vulgaris. Walnut protein extract (WPE) alone showed a modest level (up to 40%) of flocculation efficiency. The presence of WPE increased chitosan’s flocculation efficiency up to 98% at a reduced concentration of chitosan (6 mg/L). Assessment of co-flocculation efficiency at a broad region of pH showed the maximum harvesting efficiency at a neutral pH. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, floc size analysis, and microscopy suggested that the dual flocculation with chitosan and walnut protein is a result of the chemical interaction between the components that form a web-like structure, enhancing the bridging and sweeping ability of chitosan. Co-flocculation of chitosan with walnut protein extract, a low-value leftover from walnut oil production, represents an efficient and relatively cheap system for microalgal harvesting.

Carbon cloth facilitates semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of organic wastewater rich in volatile fatty acids from dark fermentation

The anaerobic digestion of wastewater rich in volatile fatty acids (VFAs) provides a sustainable approach for methane production whilst reducing environmental pollution. However, the anaerobic digestion of VFAs may not be stable during long-term operation under a short hydraulic retention time. In this study, conductive carbon cloth was supplemented to investigate the impacts on the anaerobic digestion of VFAs in wastewater sourced from dark fermentation. The results demonstrated that the failure of anaerobic digestion could be avoided when carbon cloth was supplemented. In the stable stage, the methane production rate with carbon cloth supplementation was improved by 200-260%, and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was significantly enhanced compared with that in the control without carbon cloth. The relative abundance of potential exoelectrogens on the carbon cloth was increased by up to 8-fold compared with that in the suspension. Electrotrophic methanogens on the carbon cloth were enriched by 4.2-17.2% compared with those in the suspension. The genera Ercella and Petrimonas along with the methanogenic archaea Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina on the carbon cloth may facilitate direct interspecies electron transfer, thereby enhancing methane production.

Dewaterability of sewage sludge conditioned with a graft cationic starch-based flocculant: Role of structural characteristics of flocculant

Coagulation/flocculation is one of the most extensive and cost-effective pretreatments to improve the dewaterability of sludge in water treatment plants. In this study, three series of graft cationic starch (St)-based flocculants with distinct structural characteristics including charge density (CD), graft-chain length (L), and graft-chain distribution (N) were synthesized by graft copolymerization of [(2-methacryloyloxy-ethyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride] and acrylamide onto St backbone. The structural effects of these St-based flocculants on the sludge dewaterability have been quantitatively analyzed by using a second-order polynomial model according to phenomenological theory. The predicted dewatering performance and optimal dose were fully consistent with the experimental results. On the basis of this established model, the dewatering mechanisms were discussed in detail by combination of the analysis of the changes in filter cake moisture content, specific resistance of filtration, bound water content, compression coefficient, extracellular polymeric substances fractions and components, spatial distributions of proteins and polysaccharides, microstructures of sludge cake, and flocs properties in the dewatering process. This graft St-based flocculant, with the structural characteristics of high CD, long L, and low N, exhibited superior sludge dewaterability because of the enhanced charge neutralization and bridging flocculation effects. Among these three structural factors, CD played a more important role in improvement of sludge dewaterability than L and N due to the dominant effect of charge neutralization. This study provided a better understanding of structure-activity relationship of these grafting modified flocculants, which was of significant guidance for the exploit and design of novel and efficient flocculants for improvement of sludge dewaterability.

Simultaneous harvesting and extracellular polymeric substances extrusion of microalgae using surfactant: Promoting surfactant-assisted flocculation through pH adjustment

In this research, the use of four different types of surfactants on biomass harvesting and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extrusion of Chlorella sorokiniana sp was investigated. The synergy between cationic surfactants and pH was tested to improve flocculation efficiency through the combined mechanism of charge neutralization, bridging and sweeping. Zeta potential and microscopic images were used to gain mechanistic understanding. The harvesting efficacy correlated positively with the biomass zeta potential and the surfactants alkyl-chain length; i.e., CTAB (88%) > DTAB (66%) > triton X-100 (41%) > SDS (11%). When the pH increased from 8 to 12, the harvesting efficiency was improved 12% and 39% for CTAB and DTAB, respectively. More interestingly, pH adjustment dramatically reduced the optimal dosages of CTAB and DTAB from 400 to 50 and 1000 to 300 mg/L, respectively. All selected surfactants could successfully release high value components of EPS such as protein and polysaccharide.

Lipid Extraction Maximization and Enzymatic Synthesis of Biodiesel from Microalgae

Microalgae has received overwhelming attention worldwide as a sustainable source for energy generation. However, the production of biofuel from microalgae biomass consists of several steps, of which lipid extraction is the most important one. Because of the nature of feedstock, extraction needs special attention. Three different methods were studied to extract algal oil from two different algae variant, Chlorella sp. and Spirulina sp. The highest percentage oil yield was obtained by ultrasonication (9.4% for Chlorella sp., 6.6% for Spirulina sp.) followed by the Soxhlet and solvent extraction processes. Ultrasonication and Soxhlet extraction processes were further optimized to maximize oil extraction as solvent extraction was not effective in extracting lipid. For ultrasonication, an amplitude of 90% recorded the highest percentage yield of oil for Spirulina sp. and a 70% amplitude recorded the highest percentage yield of oil for Chlorella sp. On the other hand, for Soxhlet extraction, a combination of chloroform, hexane, and methanol at a 1:1:1 ratio resulted in the highest yield of algal oil. Afterward, the crude algae oil from the ultrasonication process was transesterified for 5 h using an immobilized lipase (Novozyme 435) at 40 °C to convert triglycerides into fatty acid methyl ester and glycerol. Thus, ultrasonic-assisted lipid extraction was successful in producing biodiesel from both the species.

Analysis of the energy barrier between Chlorella vulgaris cells and their interfacial interactions with cationic starch under different pH and ionic strength

To explore the energy barrier between microalgae cells that impedes their aggregation and their interfacial interactions with cationic starch (CS), this study applied the extended Derjaguin Landau Verwey Overbeek (eDLVO) theory combined with the flocculation performance to analyze the interactions. The result shows that zeta potential based electrostatic interaction played a determinative role no matter for the energy barrier or the interfacial interactions. The energy barrier between microalgae cells would decrease with the descend of the pH and it disappeared when the pH decreased to 3 and resulted in self-flocculation. The quantitative analysis of the interfacial interactions between microalgae cell and CS showed well agreement with the experiment data of flocculation efficiency (FE) under different conditions of pH and ionic strength. Thus, the quantitative findings will be helpful to know the aggregation and flocculation process better and find more effective flocculants for microalgae harvesting.

A comprehensive review on cultivation and harvesting of microalgae for biodiesel production: Environmental pollution control and future directions

Biodiesel is one of the best promising candidates in response to the energy crisis, since it has the capability to minimize most of the environmental problems. Microalgae, as the feedstock of third-generation biodiesel, are considered as one of the most sustainable resources. However, microalgae production for biodiesel feedstock on a large scale is still limited, because of the influences of lipid contents, biomass productivities, lipid extraction technologies, the water used in microalgae cultivation and processes of biomass harvesting. This paper firstly reviews the recent advances in microalgae cultivation and growth processes. Subsequently, current microalgae harvesting technologies are summarized and flocculation mechanisms are analyzed, while the characteristics that the ideal harvesting methods should have are summarized. This review also summarizes the environmental pollution control performances and the key challenges in future. The key suggestions and conclusions in the paper can offer a promising roadmap for the cost-effective biodiesel production.

Evaluation of the structural factors for the flocculation performance of a co-graft cationic starch-based flocculant

Three series of co-graft cationic starch (St)-based flocculants with distinct structural characteristics, namely, charge density (CD), graft-chain length (L), and graft-chain distribution (N), were successfully synthesized through graft copolymerization of [(2-methacryloyloxyethyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride] and acrylamide. These St-based flocculants with different molecular structures were used to flocculate various kaolin suspensions with different initial turbidities and a sodium humate (NaHA) aqueous solution. The experimental results indicated that CD contributed to flocculation evidently, whereas average L and its N were insignificant in experimentally measured ranges. On the basis of phenomenological theory, a second-order polynomial equation was used to further quantitatively analyze the effects of the three structural factors on the flocculation performance of these St-based flocculants, which were fully consistent with the experimental results. Besides, the optimal dose and its corresponding removal rate could be predicted exactly, and the flocculation mechanisms were discussed in detail according to the established models. With the combination of floc properties and zeta potentials, the flocculation mechanisms of these St-based flocculants for flocculation of kaolin suspensions and NaHA aqueous solution were mainly ascribed to charge patching and simple charge neutralization, respectively. These results improve the understanding of the structure-activity relationship of these graft St-based flocculants, which is of significant guidance for the utilization and design of novel flocculants.

Adsorption thermodynamic characteristics of Chlorella vulgaris with organic polymer adsorbent cationic starch: Effect of temperature on adsorption capacity and rate

Aiming at optimizing the adsorption process of Chlorella vulgaris and cationic starch, the adsorption thermodynamic characteristics were evaluated. Different from inorganic calcium salt adsorbent, the adsorption nature of organic polymer cationic starch is exothermic (ΔH° < 0) and spontaneous (ΔG° < 0). Besides, the adsorption capacity and rate can be well described by Langmiur isotherm and pseudo second kinetic models. As results of exothermic nature and great driving force of lower temperature, the adsorption capacity and rate declined with the rising temperature. The maximal values of them were obtained at 278.15 K, which were 9148.14 mg microalgae (g cationic starch)^-1 and 8.74 × 10^-6 mg g^-1 min^-1. Additionally, with insufficient adsorbent, the highest adsorption efficiency (96.37%) was achieved at 278.15 K for stirring 150 min. For 288.15, 298.15, 308.15 and 318.15 K, the adsorption efficiency decreased to 93.77%, 86.75%, 83.32% and 81.57% and the time consumed were at least 40 min longer.