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Rice vinasse treatment by immobilized Synechococcus pevalekii and its effect on Dunaliella salina cultivation

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Abstract

The development of new strategies in microalgal studies represents an outstanding opportunity to mitigate environmental problems coupled with biomass production at a reduced cost. Here we present a combined bioprocess for the treatment of rice vinasse using immobilized cyanobacteria Synechococcus pevalekii in alginate beads followed by the use of the treated vinasse as a culture medium for Dunaliella salina biomass production. Cyanobacterial-alginate beads showed a chlorophyll a production of 0.68 × 10–3 mg bead−1 and a total carotenoid production of 0.64 × 10–3 mg bead−1. The first step showed a decrease in nitrate (91%), total solids (29%), and ions. Addition of treated vinasse into D. salina cultivation resulted in a significant increase in cell replication of about 175% (optimized cultivation). The use of natural seawater drastically reduced the medium cost to US$4.75 per m3 and the addition of treated vinasse has the potential to reduce it even more (up to 69%). This study not only provides an insight on the use of cyanobacteria for rice vinasse treatment but also demonstrates a promising lower-cost medium for marine microalgal biomass production with biotechnological purposes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Oceanographic Institute at the São Paulo University for the S. pevalekii and D. salina strain donation for this study, the Bio4-Soluções Biotecnológicas for the rice vinasse donation, and Prof. Luiz Alberto Junior Letti for assistance with optimization experimental design. GAC and AOS acknowledge doctoral fellowships from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil). JMR acknowledges a postdoctoral fellowship from CNPq. MRD, JCC, and MDN are Research Members of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Brazil).

Funding

This study was funded by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)—Brazil [Universal Call grant number: 462414/2014-0]; and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)—Brazil (Finance Code 001).

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Guilherme Augusto Colusse performed the experiments, analysis, and interpretation of data, and wrote the manuscript. André Oliveira Santos and Jenifer Mota Rodrigues assisted in the experiments and data analyses. Marcelo Calide Barga contributed to data acquisition. Maria Eugênia Rabello Duarte and Júlio Cesar de Carvalho revised all analyses and data sets, and contributed to the conception and design of the study. Miguel Daniel Noseda conceived, designed, and supervised the study. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Júlio Cesar de Carvalho or Miguel Daniel Noseda.

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Colusse, G.A., Santos, A.O., Rodrigues, J.M. et al. Rice vinasse treatment by immobilized Synechococcus pevalekii and its effect on Dunaliella salina cultivation. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 44, 1477–1490 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-021-02531-9

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