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  • Isolation of a euryhaline microalgal strain, Tetraselmis sp CTP4, as a robust feedstock for biodiesel production
    Publication . Pereira, Hugo; Gangadhar, Katkam N.; Schulze, Peter S.C.; Santos, Tamara; de Sousa, Carolina Bruno; Schueler, Lisa; Custódio, Luísa; Malcata, F. Xavier; Gouveia, Luísa; Varela, J.; Barreira, Luísa
    Bioprospecting for novel microalgal strains is key to improving the feasibility of microalgae-derived biodiesel production. Tetraselmis sp. CTP4 (Chlorophyta, Chlorodendrophyceae) was isolated using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) in order to screen novel lipid-rich microalgae. CTP4 is a robust, euryhaline strain able to grow in seawater growth medium as well as in non-sterile urban wastewater. Because of its large cell size (9-22 mu m), CTP4 settles down after a six-hour sedimentation step. This leads to a medium removal efficiency of 80%, allowing a significant decrease of biomass dewatering costs. Using a two-stage system, a 3-fold increase in lipid content (up to 33% of DW) and a 2-fold enhancement in lipid productivity (up to 52.1 mg L-1 d(-1)) were observed upon exposure to nutrient depletion for 7 days. The biodiesel synthesized from the lipids of CTP4 contained high levels of oleic acid (25.67% of total fatty acids content) and minor amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids with >= 4 double bonds (< 1%). As a result, this biofuel complies with most of the European (EN14214) and American (ASTM D6751) specifications, which commonly used microalgal feedstocks are usually unable to meet. In conclusion, Tetraselmis sp. CTP4 displays promising features as feedstock with lower downstream processing costs for biomass dewatering and biodiesel refining.
  • Urban wastewater treatment by Tetraselmis sp CTP4 (Chlorophyta)
    Publication . Schulze, Peter S.C.; Carvalho, Carolina F. M.; H., Pereira; Gangadhar, Katkam N.; Lisa Schueler, Lisa M. Schueler; Santos, Tamara; Varela, J.; Barreira, Luísa
    The ability of a recent isolate, Tetraselmis sp. CTP4, for nutrient removal from sewage effluents before and after the nitrification process under batch and continuous cultivation was studied. Biomass productivities in both wastewaters were similar under continuous conditions ( 0.343 +/- 0.053 g L-1 d(-1)) and nutrient uptake rates were maximal 31.4 +/- 0.4 mg N L-1 d(-1) and 6.66 +/- 1.57 mg P-PO43 L- 1 d(-1) in WW before nitrification when cultivated in batch. Among batch treatments, cellular protein, carbohydrate and lipid levels shifted with aging cultures from 71.7 +/- 6.3 to 29.2 +/- 1.2%, 17.4 +/- 7.2 to 57.2 +/- 3.9% and 10.9 +/- 1.7 to 13.7 +/- 4.7%, respectively. In contrast, CTP4 cultivated continuously in Algal medium (control) showed lower biomass productivities ( 0.282 g VSS L-1 d(-1)) although improved lipid content (up to 20% lipids) in batch cultivation. Overall, Tetraselmis sp. CTP4 is promising for WW treatment as a replacement of the costly nitrification process, fixating more nutrients and providing a protein and carbohydrate-rich biomass as by-product. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.