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Selection of optimal flocculant for effective harvesting of the fucoxanthin-rich marine microalga Isochrysis galbana

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Abstract

Flocculation harvesting of the fucoxanthin-rich marine microalga Isochrysis galbana has received little attention. Therefore, we attempted to screen for an optimal chemical flocculant and optimize flocculation conditions from five chemical flocculants—ferric chloride (FC), aluminum sulfate (AS), polyaluminum chloride (PAC), aluminum potassium sulfate (APS), and zinc sulfate (ZS)—for effective flocculation of I. galbana. The growth rate, photosynthetic performance, and fucoxanthin content were determined in re-suspended flocculated algal cells and in the flocculation supernatant cultured algal cells. The results showed that high growth rate and fucoxanthin accumulation were observed when FC was used as the flocculant in I. galbana cultures, which indicated that FC may cause less harm to I. galbana than the other aluminum-based flocculants. Furthermore, satisfactory flocculation efficiency was also observed when FC was used to flocculate I. galbana, and the FC dosage was less than that required for flocculation of I. galbana using PAC, APS, and AS. Thus, we selected FC as the optimal flocculant for harvesting I. galbana based on its flocculation efficiency together with algal physiological performance, growth rate, and fucoxanthin content.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Science and Technology Strategic Pilot of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05030401) and Tianjin Natural Science foundation (12JCZDJC22200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanhai Road 7, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Songcui Wu, Xiujun Xie, Li Huan, Zhenbing Zheng, Peipei Zhao & Guangce Wang

  2. Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Nanhai Road 7, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Songcui Wu, Xiujun Xie, Li Huan, Zhenbing Zheng, Peipei Zhao & Guangce Wang

  3. College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Songcui Wu, Zhenbing Zheng & Peipei Zhao

  4. Hainan Wanzhou Green Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Haikou, 570100, China

    Jixian Kuang

  5. Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Xueping Liu

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  1. Songcui Wu
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  2. Xiujun Xie
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  3. Li Huan
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  7. Xueping Liu
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  8. Guangce Wang
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Correspondence to Xueping Liu or Guangce Wang.

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Wu, S., Xie, X., Huan, L. et al. Selection of optimal flocculant for effective harvesting of the fucoxanthin-rich marine microalga Isochrysis galbana . J Appl Phycol 28, 1579–1588 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0716-0

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