School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Environ Technol. 2013 Mar-Apr;34(5-8):695-701. doi: 10.1080/09593330.2012.715676.
Coal seam gas (CSG) is being touted as a transition fuel as the world moves towards low-carbon economies. However, the development of CSG reserves will generate enormous volumes of saline water. In this work, we investigate the potential of using this saline water to support mass algae production. Water and brine from a CSG water treatment facility (1.6 and 11.6 g total dissolved solids per litre (TDS L(-1)) respectively) were inoculated with algal biomass from freshwater and seawater environments and supplemented with nutrients in open, fed-batch reactors. Significant algal growth was recorded, with maximum specific growth rates in CSG water and CSG brine of 0.20 +/- 0.05 d(-1) and 0.26 +/- 0.04 d(-1) respectively. These maximum specific growth rates were equal to or greater than specific growth rates in deionized water and seawater diluted to the same salinity. However, algal growth lag time in CSG brine was between 7 and 9 times longer than in other waters. Microscopy and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) were used to monitor community structure in the reactors. The same few algal species dominated all of the reactors, except for the CSG brine reactor at day 15. This result indicates that conditions in CSG brine select for different species of algae compared to seawater of the same salinity and other waters tested. The findings suggest that mass algae production in CSG water is feasible but algae community composition may be a function of CSG water chemistry. This has implications for the downstream use of algae.
煤层气（CSG）被吹捧为一种过渡燃料，因为世界正在向低碳经济转型。然而，CSG 储量的开发将产生大量的盐水。在这项工作中，我们研究了利用这种盐水来支持大规模藻类生产的潜力。从 CSG 水处理设施中获得的水和盐水（分别为每升 1.6 和 11.6 克总溶解固体（TDS L(-1)))）接种了来自淡水和海水环境的藻类生物量，并在开放、分批补料反应器中补充了营养物质。记录到了显著的藻类生长，CSG 水和 CSG 盐水的最大比生长速率分别为 0.20 +/- 0.05 d(-1)和 0.26 +/- 0.04 d(-1)。这些最大比生长速率与去离子水和海水稀释至相同盐度的比生长速率相等或更高。然而，CSG 盐水的藻类生长滞后时间比其他水长 7 到 9 倍。显微镜和末端限制性片段长度多态性（T-RFLP）用于监测反应器中的群落结构。除了 CSG 盐水反应器在第 15 天外，相同的少数藻类物种主导了所有反应器。这一结果表明，与相同盐度的海水和其他测试水相比，CSG 盐水的条件会选择不同的藻类物种。研究结果表明，CSG 水中的大规模藻类生产是可行的，但藻类群落组成可能是 CSG 水化学的一个函数。这对藻类的下游利用有影响。
