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Rheological properties of Chlorella pyrenoidosa culture grown heterotrophically in a fermentor

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Abstract

Rheological properties of Chlorella pyrenoidosa culture grown heterotrophically in a 14 L fermentor were investigated. It was found that the fluid viscosity was rather low and remained almost unchanged during the cultivation, implying that no (or very few) viscous substances were excreted into the medium. Investigation of the condensed suspension of C. pyrenoidosa showed that for biomass concentration under 150 g.L−1, the suspension of C. pyrenoidosa exhibited Newtonian behavior, and the fluid viscosity was rather low (about 40 mPa·s) and increased very slowly with the increase in cell concentration. With further increase in biomass concentration however, the fluid rheological behavior changed to non-Newtonian, and the fluid viscosity increased rapidly with the increase in cell concentration. From the viewpoint of rheology, C. pyrenoidosa is an excellent organism for high-cell-density culture, and there will be no rheological problems at cell densities under 150 g.L−1.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (863 Project No. 2006AA02Z226).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, Bor Luh Food Safety Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Zheng-yun Wu & Xian-ming Shi

  2. Department of Food Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Zheng-yun Wu

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  1. Zheng-yun Wu
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  2. Xian-ming Shi
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Correspondence to Xian-ming Shi.

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Wu, Zy., Shi, Xm. Rheological properties of Chlorella pyrenoidosa culture grown heterotrophically in a fermentor. J Appl Phycol 20, 279–282 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-007-9244-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-007-9244-x

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