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Efficient harvesting of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 with filamentous fungal pellets

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Abstract

Cyanobacteria play a major role as direct producers of biofuels, such as ethanol and butanol, with the aid of genetic engineering. However, development of a new harvesting-technology is essential to achieve economic viability of biofuel production from cyanobacteria. In this study, we demonstrated the feasibility of harvesting the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 using pre-made filamentous fungal pellets and investigated key factors affecting efficiency of harvest, including fungal strain, pellet quantity (number of pellets), initial pH, and organic carbon source. Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells attached to Aspergillus oryzae pellets, indicating that this fungal pellet had a desirable harvesting effect, while Rhizopus oryzae pellets had no effect on harvesting. Increasing pellet quantity and adding organic carbon sources, such as glucose and xylose, improved the harvesting efficiency of Aspergillus oryzae pellet; efficiency was not affected by the initial pH.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by POSCO and the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea Government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (No. 2012K130), and the Marine Biotechnology Program (Marine BioMaterials Research Center) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea. This work was also supported by “Human Resources Program in Energy Technology” of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea. (No. 20144030200460). This work was conducted also under the framework of Research and Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) (B4-2474-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784, South Korea

    Yun-Nam Choi, Joseph Christian Utomo & Jong Moon Park

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784, South Korea

    Hyun Uk Cho, Dong Yoon Shin, Hye Kyung Kim & Jong Moon Park

  3. Division of Advanced Nuclear Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, 790-784, South Korea

    Jong Moon Park

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  1. Yun-Nam Choi
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  2. Hyun Uk Cho
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  3. Joseph Christian Utomo
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  4. Dong Yoon Shin
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  5. Hye Kyung Kim
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  6. Jong Moon Park
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Correspondence to Jong Moon Park.

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Choi, YN., Cho, H.U., Utomo, J.C. et al. Efficient harvesting of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 with filamentous fungal pellets. J Appl Phycol 28, 2225–2231 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0787-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0787-y

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