Influence of abiotic conditions on the biofouling formation of flagellated microalgae culture

Abstract

This work analyses the adhesion of flagellated microalgae to seven surfaces that have different water adhesion tension characteristics. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Isochrysis galbana, were cultivated in batch and fed-batch mode at four nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) ratios (from 1.29 to 70) and subjected to four irradiance levels (50, 100, 200 and 400 µE·s⁻¹·m⁻²) at 23 °C. Cell adhesion was greater in C. reinhardtii and a higher biomass concentration was obtained for this strain, reaching 2 g·L⁻¹ compared to 1 g·L⁻¹ for I. galbana. The adhesion of cells and exopolymeric substances was measured upon the batch and the first fed-batch reaching the stationary growth phase, observing a direct correlation between them and inversely to biomass generation in the cultures. The protein adhesion data for the different materials are comparable to those for cell adhesion coinciding with minimums of Baier's theory and Vogler. It is observed displacements in the curves as a function of the irradiance level.

Keywords:

• Microalgae biofouling
• cell adhesion
• extracellular substances
• N/P ratio
• light regime

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation grant RTI2018-101891-B-100, and by the European Regional Development Fund Program.