Carboxymethyl cellulose protects algal cells against hydrodynamic stress

Mitigation of oxidative stress damage caused by abiotic stress to improve biomass yield of microalgae: A review

Microalgae have been recognized as emerging cell factories due to the high value-added bio-products. However, the balance between algal growth and the accumulation of metabolites is always the main contradiction in algal biomass production. Hence, the security and effectiveness of regulating microalgal growth and metabolism simultaneously have drawn substantial attention. Since the correspondence between microalgal growth and reactive oxygen species (ROS) level has been confirmed, improving its growth under oxidative stress and promoting biomass accumulation under non-oxidative stress by exogenous mitigators is feasible. This paper first introduced ROS generation in microalgae and described the effects of different abiotic stresses on the physiological and biochemical status of microalgae from these aspects associated with growth, cell morphology and structure, and antioxidant system. Secondly, the role of exogenous mitigators with different mechanisms in alleviating abiotic stress was concluded. Finally, the possibility of exogenous antioxidants regulating microalgal growth and improving the accumulation of specific products under non-stress conditions was discussed.

Recent advances on microalgae cultivation for simultaneous biomass production and removal of wastewater pollutants to achieve circular economy

Microalgae are known for containing high value compounds and its significant role in sequestering carbon dioxide. This review mainly focuses on the emerging microalgae cultivation technologies such as nanomaterials technology that can improve light distribution during microalgae cultivation, attached cultivation and co-cultivation approaches that can improve growth and proliferation of algal cells, biomass yield and lipid accumulation in microalgal. This review includes a comprehensive discussion on the use of microbubbles technology to enhance aerated bubble capacity in photobioreactor to improve microalgal growth. This is followed by discussion on the role of microalgae as phycoremediation agent in removal of contaminants from wastewater, leading to better water quality and high productivity of shellfish. The review also includes techno-economic assessment of microalgae biorefinery technology, which is useful for scaling up the microalgal biofuel production system or integrated microalgae-shellfish cultivation system to support circular economy.

Hazardous cyanobacteria integrity response to velocity gradient and powdered activated carbon in water treatment plants

Although some studies have investigated the impact caused by chemicals used on water treatment (coagulants and oxidants) on cyanobacteria integrity, the isolated effect of shear stress during coagulation is still not fully understood. This study evaluated the impact of different velocity gradients, mixing times, and the addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) on the integrity of Microcystis aeruginosa, Raphidiopsis raciborskii, and Dolichospermum circinale, known producers of toxin and taste and odor (T&O) compounds. No association was found between R. raciborskii cell lysis and velocity gradient, with or without PAC, demonstrating the high resilience of this taxon to shear stress. In contrast, an association was found for M. aeruginosa at the highest velocity gradient evaluated (1000 s^-1) and for D. circinale above the lowest velocity gradient studied (600 s^-1). After PAC addition, there was a reduction in the chances of finding M. aeruginosa intact cells above velocity gradient 800 s^-1 at 45 s, while D. circinale show cell lysis in all the scenarios expect at 600 s^-1 and 10 s of agitation. The additional impact of PAC on cell lysis may lead to more release of metabolites and shows the need to adjust the hydraulic conditions in the rapid mixing stage, especially when more "fragile" cyanobacteria are present. Neither cyanobacterial cell size nor morphology was shown to be relevant to shear stress sensitivity, indicating that cell wall composition might have been an important factor in controlling cell lysis.

Phytoplankton community structure in relation to environmental factors from the New Mangalore Port waters along the southwest coast of India

Seasonal and spatial phytoplankton distribution in relation to environmental factors was investigated in New Mangalore Port, a major port along the west coast of India. A well-mixed water column characterized the non-monsoon seasons, whereas it was weakly stratified during monsoon. Water quality index (TRIX) scores indicated good water quality except during pre-monsoon (inner zone surface) and monsoon (near bottom waters). Surface abundance of tychopelagic diatoms (Paralia sulcata, Melosira nummuloides, Cylindrotheca closterium, and Nitzschia sigma) was higher during non-monsoon seasons. Certain centric diatoms, e.g., Leptocylindrus danicus, P. sulcata, and Rhizosolenia imbricata, dominated during pre-monsoon (inner zone) and positively correlated with TRIX. High Skeletonema costatum and dinoflagellate abundance during the monsoon season coincided with high nutrient concentrations. Five potential toxic and fourteen harmful/bloom forming algal species were encountered at abundances below the level that can be considered as harmful to the ecosystem. In addition to a baseline database, this study highlights the potential use of certain diatom species as indicators of hydrography and water quality for monitoring dynamic coastal marine ecosystems.

Effects of shear stress on microalgae - A review

Cultivation of microalgae requires consideration of shear stress, which is generated by operations such as mixing, circulation, aeration and pumping that are designed to facilitate mass and heat transfer as well as light distribution in cultures. Excessive shear stress can cause increased cell mortality, decreased growth rate and cell viability, or even cell lysis. This review examines the sources of shear stress in different cultivation systems, shear stress tolerance of different microalgal species and the physiological factors and environmental conditions that may affect shear sensitivity, and potential approaches to mitigate the detrimental effects of shear stress. In general, green algae have the greatest tolerance to shear stress, followed by cyanobacteria, haptophytes, red algae, and diatoms, with dinoflagellates comprising the most shear-sensitive species. The shear-sensitivity of microalgae is determined primarily by cell wall strength, cell morphology and the presence of flagella. Turbulence, eddy size, and viscosity are the most prominent parameters affecting shear stress to microalgal cells during cultivation.

A biomaterials approach to influence stem cell fate in injectable cell-based therapies

Background

Numerous stem cell therapies use injection-based administration to deliver high-density cell preparations. However, cell retention rates as low as 1% have been observed within days of transplantation. This study investigated the effects of varying administration and formulation parameters of injection-based administration on cell dose recovery and differentiation fate choice of human mesenchymal stem cells.

Methods

The impact of ejection rate via clinically relevant Hamilton micro-syringes and biomaterial-assisted delivery was investigated. Cell viability, the percentage of cell dose delivered as viable cells, proliferation capacity as well as differentiation behaviour in bipotential media were assessed. Characterisation of the biomaterial-based cell carriers was also carried out.

Results

A significant improvement of in-vitro dose recovery in cells co-ejected with natural biomaterials was observed, with ejections within 2% (w/v) gelatin resulting in 87.5 ± 14% of the cell dose being delivered as viable cells, compared to 32.2 ± 19% of the dose ejected in the commonly used saline vehicle at 10 μl/min. Improvement in cell recovery was not associated with the rheological properties of biomaterials utilised, as suggested by previous studies. The extent of osteogenic differentiation was shown to be substantially altered by choice of ejection rate and cell carrier, despite limited contact time with cells during ejection. Collagen type I and bone-derived extracellular matrix cell carriers yielded significant increases in mineralised matrix deposited at day 21 relative to PBS.

Conclusions

An enhanced understanding of how administration protocols and biomaterials influence cell recovery, differentiation capacity and choice of fate will facilitate the development of improved administration and formulation approaches to achieve higher efficacy in stem cell transplantation.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13287-018-0789-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An optimisation approach for culturing shear-sensitive dinoflagellate microalgae in bench-scale bubble column photobioreactors

The dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum was grown in bubble column photobioreactors and a genetic algorithm-based stochastic search strategy used to find optimal values for the culture parameters gas flow rate, culture height, and nozzle sparger diameter. Cell production, concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS), membrane fluidity and photosynthetic efficiency were studied throughout the culture period. Gas-flow rates below 0.26Lmin(-1), culture heights over 1.25m and a nozzle diameter of 1.5mm were found to provide the optimal conditions for cell growth, with an increase of 60% in cell production with respect to the control culture. Non-optimal conditions produced a sufficiently high shear stress to negatively affect cell growth and even produce cell death. Cell physiology was also severely affected in stressed cultures. The production of ROS increased by up to 200%, whereas cell membrane fluidity decreased by 60% relative to control cultures. Photosynthetic efficiency decreased concomitantly with membrane fluidity.

Immobilized growth of the peridinin-producing marine dinoflagellate Symbiodinium in a simple biofilm photobioreactor

Products from phototrophic dinoflagellates such as toxins or pigments are potentially important for applications in the biomedical sciences, especially in drug development. However, the technical cultivation of these organisms is often problematic due to their sensitivity to hydrodynamic (shear) stress that is a characteristic of suspension-based closed photobioreactors (PBRs). It is thus often thought that most species of dinoflagellates are non-cultivable at a technical scale. Recent advances in the development of biofilm PBRs that rely on immobilization of microalgae may hold potential to circumvent this major technical problem in dinoflagellate cultivation. In the present study, the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium voratum was grown immobilized on a Twin-Layer PBR for isolation of the carotenoid peridinin, an anti-cancerogenic compound. Biomass productivities ranged from 1.0 to 11.0 g m(-2) day(-1) dry matter per vertical growth surface and a maximal biomass yield of 114.5 g m(-2), depending on light intensity, supplementary CO2, and type of substrate (paper or polycarbonate membrane) used. Compared to a suspension culture, the performance of the Twin-Layer PBRs exhibited significantly higher growth rates and maximal biomass yield. In the Twin-Layer PBR a maximal peridinin productivity of 24 mg m(-2) day(-1) was determined at a light intensity of 74 μmol m(-2) s(-1), although the highest peridinin content per dry weight (1.7 % w/w) was attained at lower light intensities. The results demonstrate that a biofilm-based PBR that minimizes hydrodynamic shear forces is applicable to technical-scale cultivation of dinoflagellates and may foster biotechnological applications of these abundant marine protists.

Membrane technology in microalgae cultivation and harvesting: a review

Membrane processes have long been applied in different stages of microalgae cultivation and processing. These processes include microfiltration, ultrafiltration, dialysis, forward osmosis, membrane contactors and membrane spargers. They are implemented in many combinations, both as a standalone and as a coupled system (in membrane biomass retention photobioreactors (BR-MPBRs) or membrane carbonation photobioreactors (C-MPBRs). To provide sufficient background on these applications, an overview of membrane materials and membrane processes of interest in microalgae cultivation and processing is provided in this work first. Afterwards, discussion about specific aspects of membrane applications in microbial cultivation and harvesting is provided, including membrane fouling. Many of the membrane processes were shown to be promising options in microalgae cultivation. Yet, significant process optimizations are still required when they are applied to enable microalgae biomass bulk production to become competitive as a raw material for biofuel production. Recent developments of the coupled systems (BR-MPBR and C-MPBR) bring significant promises to improve the volumetric productivity of a cultivation system and the efficiency of inorganic carbon capture, respectively.

Mixotrophic growth of Phaeodactylum tricornutum on fructose and glycerol in fed-batch and semi-continuous modes

Mixotrophic cultures of Phaeodactylum tricornutum were carried out in bubble columns using fructose and glycerol in indoor fed-batch and semi-continuous modes. In the fed-batch cultures, different nutrient-addition strategies, combined with stepwise increments in the light intensity, were assayed. It was found that glycerol promoted significantly higher biomass productivity than fructose. A glycerol-induced photoinhibition that arrested the growth of P. tricornutun was also observed. As this was considered a limitation as regards transferring the fed-batch mode to outdoor conditions, this information was used to culture P. tricornutum in semi-continuous mode. Similar glycerol-induced photoinhibition was not observed in these cultures, even at highest dilution rates. Although the highest biomass (1.5 g L(-1) d(-1)) and EPA (40 mg L(-1) d(-1)) productivities found in the semi-continuous cultures were lower than those obtained photoautotrophically in outdoor photobioreactors, the findings showed that semi-continuous mode was an excellent candidate for transferring mixotrophic culture to an outdoor setting.

Bioactives from microalgal dinoflagellates

Dinoflagellate microalgae are an important source of marine biotoxins. Bioactives from dinoflagellates are attracting increasing attention because of their impact on the safety of seafood and potential uses in biomedical, toxicological and pharmacological research. Here we review the potential applications of dinoflagellate toxins and the methods for producing them. Only sparing quantities of dinoflagellate toxins are generally available and this hinders bioactivity characterization and evaluation in possible applications. Approaches to production of increased quantities of dinoflagellate bioactives are discussed. Although many dinoflagellates are fragile and grow slowly, controlled culture in bioreactors appears to be generally suitable for producing many of the metabolites of interest.

Photoautotrophic production of lipids by some Chlorella strains

The microalgae Chlorella protothecoides UTEX 25, Chlorella sp. TISTR 8991, and Chlorella sp. TISTR 8990 were compared for use in the production of biomass and lipids under photoautotrophic conditions. Chlorella sp. TISTR 8990 was shown to be potentially suitable for lipid production at 30°C in a culture medium that contained only inorganic salts. For Chlorella sp. TISTR 8990 in optimal conditions in a stirred tank photobioreactor, the lipid productivity was 2.3 mg L(-1) h(-1) and after 14 days the biomass contained more than 30% lipids by dry weight. To attain this, the nitrogen was provided as KNO(3) at an initial concentration of 2.05 g  L(-1) and chelated ferric iron was added at a concentration of 1.2 × 10(-5) mol L(-1) on the ninth day. Under the same conditions in culture tubes (36 mm outer diameter), the biomass productivity was 2.8-fold greater than in the photobioreactor (0.125 m in diameter), but the lipid productivity was only 1.2-fold higher. Thus, the average low-light level in the photobioreactor actually increased the biomass specific lipid production compared to the culture tubes. A light-limited growth model closely agreed with the experimental profiles of biomass production, nitrogen consumption, and lipid production in the photobioreactor.

Adaptation of the Se301 insect cell line to suspension culture. Effect of turbulence on growth and on production of nucleopolyhedrovius (SeMNPV)

As chemical pesticides are being banned as control agents for agricultural pests, the use of the highly specific, safe to non-target organisms baculoviruses has been proposed. These viruses can be produced either in vivo or in vitro. In vitro production requires appropriated host insect cell lines with the ability for growing as freely-suspended cells. In this work, the Spodoptera exigua Se301 cell line was used to produce the commercially available S. exigua nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) in suspension. Se301 cells showed to be very sensitive to the hydrodynamic shear rates developed in bioreactors. A process of progressive adaptation to freely-suspended cultures using protective additives against shear stress and disaggregant was proposed. The best combinations were polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) or polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) with the disaggregant dextran sulfate (DS). Both static and freely-suspended Se301 cell cultures were successfully infected with the SeMNPV baculovirus. Production of occluded baculovirus (OB) increased with the multiplicity of infection (MOI > 0.1).

Theoretical approach to modelling and analysis of the bioprocess with product inhibition and impulse effect

This work presents the first mathematical model of a bioprocess with product inhibition and impulse effect. To begin with, an exemplary mathematical bioprocess model with product inhibition and impulse effect is formulated. Then, according to the model, the analysis of bioprocess stability is presented. The article expresses the product oscillation period, which provides the precise feeding time frame for the regulator bioprocess to achieve an equivalent stable output as that of a bioprocess with impulse effect in the same production environment. Moreover, in this work, the optimization of the production process with respect to the tunable parameters is investigated, and analytical expressions of their optimal values are provided. Numerical simulations using biological data are presented to illustrate the main results.

The technology of microalgal culturing

This review outlines the current status and recent developments in the technology of microalgal culturing in enclosed photobioreactors. Light distribution and mixing are the primary variables that affect productivities of photoautotrophic cultures and have strong impacts on photobioreactor designs. Process monitoring and control, physiological engineering, and heterotrophic microalgae are additional aspects of microalgal culturing, which have gained considerable attention in recent years.

Enhanced sludge solubilization by microbubble ozonation

A microbubble ozonation process for enhancing sludge solubilization was proposed and its performance was evaluated in comparison to a conventional ozone bubble contactor. Microbubbles are defined as bubbles with diameters less than several tens of micrometers. Previous studies have demonstrated that microbubbles could accelerate the formation of hydroxyl radicals and hence improve the ozonation of dyestuff wastewater. The results of this study showed that microbubble ozonation was effective in increasing ozone utilization and improving sludge solubilization. For a contact time of 80 min, an ozone utilization efficiency of more than 99% was obtained using the microbubble system, while it gradually decreased from 94% to 72% for the bubble contactor. The rate of microbial inactivation was obviously faster in the microbubble system. At an ozone dose of 0.02g O(3)g(-1) TSS, about 80% of microorganisms were inactivated in the microbubble system, compared with about 50% inactivation for the bubble contactor. Compared to the bubble contactor, more than two times of COD and total nitrogen, and eight times of total phosphorus content were released from the sludge into the supernatant by using the microbubble system at the same ozone dosage. The application of microbubble technology in ozonation processes may provide an effective and low cost approach for sludge reduction.

Biodiesel from microalgae

Continued use of petroleum sourced fuels is now widely recognized as unsustainable because of depleting supplies and the contribution of these fuels to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the environment. Renewable, carbon neutral, transport fuels are necessary for environmental and economic sustainability. Biodiesel derived from oil crops is a potential renewable and carbon neutral alternative to petroleum fuels. Unfortunately, biodiesel from oil crops, waste cooking oil and animal fat cannot realistically satisfy even a small fraction of the existing demand for transport fuels. As demonstrated here, microalgae appear to be the only source of renewable biodiesel that is capable of meeting the global demand for transport fuels. Like plants, microalgae use sunlight to produce oils but they do so more efficiently than crop plants. Oil productivity of many microalgae greatly exceeds the oil productivity of the best producing oil crops. Approaches for making microalgal biodiesel economically competitive with petrodiesel are discussed.

Biotechnological significance of toxic marine dinoflagellates

Dinoflagellates are microalgae that are associated with the production of many marine toxins. These toxins poison fish, other wildlife and humans. Dinoflagellate-associated human poisonings include paralytic shellfish poisoning, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, and ciguatera fish poisoning. Dinoflagellate toxins and bioactives are of increasing interest because of their commercial impact, influence on safety of seafood, and potential medical and other applications. This review discusses biotechnological methods of identifying toxic dinoflagellates and detecting their toxins. Potential applications of the toxins are discussed. A lack of sufficient quantities of toxins for investigational purposes remains a significant limitation. Producing quantities of dinoflagellate bioactives requires an ability to mass culture them. Considerations relating to bioreactor culture of generally fragile and slow-growing dinoflagellates are discussed. Production and processing of dinoflagellates to extract bioactives, require attention to biosafety considerations as outlined in this review.

Effects of agitation on the microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Porphyridium cruentum

The effect of mechanical agitation on the microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Porphyridium cruentum was investigated in aerated continuous cultures with and without the added shear protectant Pluronic F68. Damage to cells was quantified through a decrease in the steady state concentration of the biomass in the photobioreactor. For a given aeration rate, the steady state biomass concentration rose with increasing rate of mechanical agitation until an upper limit on agitation speed was reached. This maximum tolerable agitation speed depended on the microalgal species. Further increase in agitation speed caused a decline in the steady state concentration of the biomass. An impeller tip speed of >1.56 m s(-1) damaged P. tricornutum in aerated culture. In contrast, the damage threshold tip speed for P. cruentum was between 2.45 and 2.89 m s(-1). Mechanical agitation was not the direct cause of cell damage. Damage occurred because of the rupture of small gas bubbles at the surface of the culture, but mechanical agitation was instrumental in generating the bubbles that ultimately damaged the cells. Pluronic F68 protected the cells against damage and increased the steady state concentration of the biomass relative to operation without the additive. The protective effect of Pluronic was concentration-dependent over the concentration range of 0.01-0.10% w/v.

Influence of power supply in the feasibility ofPhaeodactylum tricornutumcultures

The influence of fluid-dynamic conditions on the yield of Phaeodactylum tricornutum microalgal cultures was analyzed in two stages: first, the influence of air flow rate; second, the influence of using fluid-moving pumps for recirculating the culture. With respect to the air flow rate, the yield of the cultures increased with the aeration rate up to values of 2.0 v/v/min, then stress was observed and the yield of the cultures decreased. With respect to the influence of mechanical power supply for liquid impulsion, three different types of pumps--centrifugal, pulse, and peristaltic--were essayed at different power supplies. The cultures were stressed for the three types of pumps essayed. For each pump, the higher the power supply the lower was the Fv/Fm value and the higher was the stress at which cells were exposed. The highest measured stress was when the culture was moved with the centrifugal pump. Despite measured stress, for all the experiments stable steady states were reached, thus indicating that cells reduced their yield but did not die, as was verified by cell viability measurements. It was observed that the increase of the power supply improved the frequency of light exposition thus enhancing the yield of the cultures. However, the higher the power supply, the lower the microeddy length scale; therefore, stress could appear. Data demonstrated that the microeddy length scale was always much higher than cell size and therefore the turbulence was not responsible for stress. Also, the mass transfer was discarded as responsible for yield reduction. It was concluded that the shear rate was the factor determining the existence of stress phenomena. The evaluation of these shear rates demonstrated that values above 30-80 s(-1) damaged the cells strongly. These data were verified in an outdoor pilot-scale tubular photobioreactor that was implemented with the same type of pumps, thus demonstrating the necessity to take into account this factor in the design and scale-up of microalgal photobioreactors.

Hydrodynamic stress and lethal events in sparged microalgae cultures

The effect of high superficial gas velocities in continuous and batch cultures of the strains Dunaliella tertiolecta, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii wild-type and cell wall-lacking mutant was studied in bubble columns. No cell damage was found for D. tertiolecta and C. reinhardtii (wild-type) up to superficial gas velocities of 0.076 and 0.085 m s(-1), respectively, suggesting that high superficial gas velocities alone cannot be responsible for cell death and, consequently, bubble bursting cannot be the sole cause for cell injury. A death rate of 0.46 +/- 0.08 h(-1) was found for C. reinhardtii (cell wall-lacking mutant) at a superficial gas velocity of 0.076 m s(-1), and increased to 1.01 +/- 0.29 h(-1) on increasing superficial gas velocity to 0.085 m s(-1). Shear sensitivity is thus strain-dependent and to some extent the cell wall plays a role in the protection against hydrodynamic shear. When studying the effect of bubble formation at the sparger in batch cultures of D. tertiolecta by varying the number of nozzles, a death rate of 0.047 +/- 0.016 h(-1) was obtained at high gas entrance velocities. D. tertiolecta was cultivated in a pilot-plant reactor under different superficial gas velocities of up to 0.026 m s(-1), with relatively low gas entrance velocities and no cell damage was observed. There is some indication that the main parameter causing cell death and damage was the gas entrance velocity at the sparger.

Overcoming shear stress of microalgae cultures in sparged photobioreactors

In the present work we identified and quantified the effect of hydrodynamic stress on two different microalgae strains, Dunaliella tertiolecta and D. salina, cultivated in bench-scale bubble columns. The cell death rate constant increased with increasing gas-entrance velocity at the sparger. Dunaliella salina was slightly more sensitive than D. tertiolecta. The critical gas-entrance velocities were approximately 50 and 30 m s(-1) for D. tertiolecta and D. salina, respectively. The effects of gas-flow rate, culture height, and nozzle diameter on the death rate constant were also studied. From these results it was concluded that bubble rising and bubble bursting are not responsible for cell death. Regarding nozzle diameter, small nozzles were more detrimental to cells. The bubble formation at the sparger was found to be the main event leading to cell death.