Future Environmental Research Center, Korea Institute of Toxicology, 17, Jegok-gil, Samgok-ri, Munsan-eup, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do 52834, Republic of Korea.
Freshwater Bioresources Utilization Bureau, Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources, 137, Donam 2-gil, Sangju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do 37242, Republic of Korea.
Bioresour Technol. 2018 Feb;249:206-211. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.157. Epub 2017 Sep 23.
Microalgae have been extensively studied for the production of various products. However, to date, microalgal biomass has not become economically feasible, mainly due to different issues such as contamination from various sources that occurs during downstream processes, and which leads to low quality biomass with limited application. In this study, to overcome contamination by flocculants and other microorganisms, the cationic biopolymer α-Poly-l-lysine (α-PLL) was applied. The cationic amine moiety and polymeric chain of α-PLL rendered microalgal harvesting efficient. With increasing α-PLL chain length, efficient dose- and time-dependent harvesting was achieved. In addition to efficient flocculation performance, biomass harvested using α-PLL showed suppressed biological contamination through the inherent antimicrobial activity of α-PLL. Thus, it is possible to upgrade the quality and storability of produced microalgal biomass using α-PLL-induced flocculation.
微藻已被广泛研究用于生产各种产品。然而，迄今为止，微藻生物质尚未达到经济可行的程度，主要是由于在下游过程中会受到各种来源的污染，导致生物质质量较低，应用受限。在这项研究中，为了克服絮凝剂和其他微生物的污染，应用了阳离子生物聚合物 α-聚赖氨酸（α-PLL）。α-PLL 的阳离子胺部分和聚合物链使微藻收获变得高效。随着 α-PLL 链长的增加，实现了高效的剂量和时间依赖性收获。除了高效的絮凝性能外，使用 α-PLL 收获的生物质通过 α-PLL 的固有抗菌活性抑制了生物污染。因此，使用 α-PLL 诱导的絮凝可以提高所产微藻生物质的质量和储存稳定性。
