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Rhodosporidium toruloides and Tetradesmus obliquus Populations Dynamics in Symbiotic Cultures, Developed in Brewery Wastewater, for Lipid Production

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Abstract

In this work, primary brewery wastewater (PBWW) and secondary brewery wastewater (SBWW) separately, or mixed at the ratios of 1:1 (PBWW:SBWW) and 1:7 (PBWW:SBWW), with or without supplementation with sugarcane molasses (SCM), were used as culture media for lipid production by a mixed culture of the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides NCYC 921 and the microalgae Tetradesmus obliquus (ACOI 204/07). Flow cytometry was used to understand the dynamics of the two micro-organisms during the mixed cultures evolution, as well as to evaluate the physiological states of each micro-organism, in order to assess the impact of the different brewery effluent media composition on the microbial consortium performance. Both brewery wastewaters (primary and secondary) without supplementation did not allow R. toruloides heterotrophic growth. Nevertheless, all brewery wastewater media, with and without SCM supplementation, allowed the microalgae growth, although the yeast was the dominant population. The maximum total biomass concentration of 2.17 g L−1 was achieved in the PBWW mixed cultivation with 10 g L−1 of SCM. The maximum lipid content (14.86% (w/w DCW)) was obtained for the mixed culture developed on SBWW supplemented with 10 g L−1 of SCM. This work demonstrated the potential of using brewery wastewater supplemented with SCM as a low-cost culture medium to grow R. toruloides and T. obliquus in a mixed culture for brewery wastewater treatment with concomitant lipid production.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Margarida Monteiro for laboratory support and strain maintenance and Céu Penedo for the HPLC analysis support. The authors thank Dr. Sérgio Marques (Sidul Company, Alhandra, Portugal) for the kind sugar cane molasses supply, as well as Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas (Vialonga, Portugal) for the brewery effluent supply.

Funding

Carla Dias PhD scholarship is sponsored by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), Portugal (SFRH/BD/117355/2016). The authors also thank the Biomass and Bioenergy Research Infrastructure (BBRI)-LISBOA-01–0145-FEDER-022059, which is supported by Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (PORTUGAL2020), by Lisbon Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa 2020) and by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Norte 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia, I.P., Unidade de Bioenergia e Biorrefinarias – UBB, Estrada do Paço do Lumiar 22, 1649-038, Lisboa, Portugal

    Carla Dias, Luísa Gouveia, Alberto Reis & Teresa Lopes da Silva

  2. GreenCoLab - Green Ocean Technologies and Products Collaborative Laboratory, CCMAR, Algarve University, Faro, Portugal

    Luísa Gouveia

  3. Departamento de Bioengenharia, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal

    José A. L. Santos

  4. IBB, Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal

    José A. L. Santos

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  1. Carla Dias
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  2. Luísa Gouveia
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  3. José A. L. Santos
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  4. Alberto Reis
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  5. Teresa Lopes da Silva
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CD carried out the experimental work, analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. TLS coordinated experimental work, and revised the manuscript. All authors revised and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Teresa Lopes da Silva.

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Dias, C., Gouveia, L., Santos, J.A.L. et al. Rhodosporidium toruloides and Tetradesmus obliquus Populations Dynamics in Symbiotic Cultures, Developed in Brewery Wastewater, for Lipid Production. Curr Microbiol 79, 40 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-021-02683-7

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