• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2014

Microalgae have been considered as a promising microorganism in the field of bio-industry due to their abilities to fix carbon dioxide as well as biosynthesize valuable secondary metabolites. Of many lighting sources for microalgal cultivation, LED (Lighting Emitting Diode) has been emerged as the appropriate choice with multiple advantages over the conventional bulbs. However, it is only in recent years that we have witnessed the possibility of application of LED into microalgae cultivation system. LED will serve as an evolutionary lighting source for microalgae cultivation system and open the frontier for integrative bio-industries. In this paper, we present the comprehensive review on the recent trends of LED applications into microalgal biotechnology.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2016

The microalgae have been studied for a source of biodiesel production. It is important to select the microalgae, which grows rapidly in local environmental conditions such as temperature range and ingredient of local seawater. The aim of this study was isolating microalga, which has rapid growth rate and high FAME contents in wide temperature ranges, for microalgal offshore cultivation in Korea, one of the country with four distinct seasons. Firstly, we had isolated a green microalga, Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12236BP, which has faster growth rate in low temperature (5 and $10^{\circ}C$) than Tetraselmis suecica and Dunaliella tertiolecta LB999 from Young Heung Island, Incheon, Korea. This microalga was cultivated in outdoor circulated tank photobioreactor (CT-PBR). As a result, this microalga could grow in wide temperature ranges (6 to $29^{\circ}C$), outdoors. After that, the biomass was recovered, and 13.2 g biodiesel could be acquired from 110 g dry biomass. These results indicate that the isolated microalga, Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12236BP is proper to biodiesel production using outdoor cultivation in Korea for all seasons.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.283-287
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• 2014

Cultivation of microalgae using wastewater exhibits several advantages such as nutrient removal and the production of high valuable products such as lipid and pigments. With this study, two types of wastewater from instant noodle factory; mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and effluents after sedimentation tank were investigated for green microalga Scenedesmus sp. cultivation under laboratory condition. Optimal wastewater dilution percentage was evaluated in 24 wells microplate. MLSS and effluent without dilution showed the highest specific growth rate (${\mu}$) of $1.63{\pm}0.11day^{-1}$ and $1.57{\pm}0.16day^{-1}$, respectively, in which they were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than Scenedesmus sp. grown in BG11 medium ($1.08{\pm}0.14day^{-1}$). Ten days experiment was also conducted using 2000 ml Duran bottle as culture vessel under continuous light at approximately 5000 lux intensity and continuous aeration. It was found that maximum biomass density of microalgae cultivated in MLSS and effluent were $344.16{\pm}105.60mg/L$ and $512.89{\pm}86.93mg/L$ respectively and there was no significant (p < 0.05) difference on growth to control (BG11 medium). Moreover, cultivation microalgae in wastewater could reduce COD in wastewater by 39.89%-73.37%. Therefore, cultivation of Scenedesmus sp. in wastewater from instant noodle factory can yield microalgae biomass production and wastewater reclamation using photobioreactor simultaneously.

• ALGAE
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.193-202
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• 2013

Nitrogen availability and cell density each affects growth and cellular astaxanthin content of Haematococcus pluvialis, but possible combined effects of these two factors on the content and productivity of astaxanthin, especially under outdoor culture conditions, is less understood. In this study, the effects of the initial biomass densities IBDs of 0.1, 0.5, 0.8, 1.5, 2.7, 3.5, and 5.0 g $L^{-1}$ DW and initial nitrogen concentrations of 0, 4.4, 8.8, and 17.6 mM nitrate on growth and cellular astaxanthin content of H. pluvialis Flotow K-0084 were investigated in outdoor glass column photobioreactors in a batch culture mode. A low IBD of 0.1 g $L^{-1}$ DW led to photo-bleaching of the culture within 1-2 days. When the IBD was 0.5 g $L^{-1}$ and above, the rate at which the increase in biomass density and the astaxanthin content on a per cell basis was higher at lower IBD. When the IBD was optimal (i.e., 0.8 g $L^{-1}$), the maximum astaxanthin content of 3.8% of DW was obtained in the absence of nitrogen, whereas the maximum astaxanthin productivity of 16.0 mg $L^{-1}\;d^{-1}$ was obtained in the same IBD culture containing 4.4 mM nitrogen. The strategies for achieving maximum Haematococcus biomass productivity and for maximum cellular astaxanthin content are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.63-71
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• 2021

Using fossil fuels in existing industrial systems causes a variety of social problems. Recently, many studies have been conducted on bio-refineries, which aim to actively utilize biomass to reduce the use of fossil fuels and solve various social problems. Among them, research using microalgae as a third-generation biomass has attracted considerable attention. Microalgae use inorganic matter to produce organic matter, and cell destruction is necessary to extract useful organic materials from microalgae. The extracted organic materials are currently used in various industrial fields. Numerous cell-destruction methods exist. We have investigated cell disruption by sonication, especially its efficiency. Ultrasound is a sound wave with frequencies above 20 kHz, and destroys cells by sending high energy through a cavitation that occurs, according to the characteristics of the sound wave. The Dunaliella salina microalgae used in this study was cultured in a flat-type photobioreactor. Experiments were performed using a batch low-frequency processing device. Logistic model was applied to analyze the results of cell-destruction experiments using ultrasound. The proper conditions for the most efficient cell destruction were OD 1.4(microalgae concentration)), 54watt(output power) and 200mL(microalgae capacity).

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2018

There are many eutrophic lakes by point and non-point pollution sources such as in dustrial waste water, domestic raw sewage, and mucks. The eutrophic lakes not only cause algal blooms but also destroy the ecosystem in the lakes due to high nutrient concentrations. The purpose of this study was to improve water quality in eutrophic lakes by cultivating microalgae using photobioreactors (PBRs) with selectively permeable mesh (SPM), supplying nutrients in the lake and inhibiting cell leakage by diffusion and water permeability. Chlorella vulgaris, was cultivated using PBRs with SPM installed in Inkyung Lake located in Inha university, Incheon, Korea. When cultivating C. vulgaris, $8.3g/m^2/day$ of average biomass productivity was obtained at 3 days. Furthermore, concentrations of total nitrogen and phosphorus were reduced by 35.7% and 84.2%, respectively, compared to initial condition and water quality in eutrophic lake was improved to oligotrophic environment. These results suggest that microalgal cultivation using PBRs with SPM in the lake could produce microalgal biomass as well as improve water quality by decreasing nutrient concentrations.

• ALGAE
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.163-175
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• 2019

To compare the nutritional quality of TPG (Teleaulax / Plagioselmis / Geminigera) clade species of cryptomonads with that of RHO (Rhodomonas / Rhinomonas / Storeatula) clade species 6 Teleaulax amphioxeia (TA) and 1 Rhinomonas sp. strains were mass-cultured in newly designed 500-L photobioreactors to the end of exponential growth phase. Intraspecific variations (IVs) in terms of one standard deviation among the 6 TA strains in the compositions of the three macronutrients were 41.5 (protein), 89.8 (lipid), and 15.6% (carbohydrate) of the mean. When harvested from stationary growth phase mean compositions of essential amino acids (EAAs, 47.3%) and non-EAAs (52.7%) of the 2 TA strains, CR-MAL07 and CR-MAL08-2, were similar to those of a Chroomonas strain. The IVs between the 2 TA strains in the composition of EAAs (10.3 and 2.4) and non-EAAs (8.5 and 2.1% of the mean) were rather smaller than those of saturated fatty acids (30.3 and 26.1) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs, 12.0 and 12.5% of the mean) in f/2-Si and urea-based compound fertilizer (UCF) culture media, respectively. Mean compositions of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 17.9%) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 12.7%) of total fatty acids of the 2 TA strains were higher than those that of a Chroomonas strain. EPA and DHA compositions exhibited similar level of IVs between the 2 TA strains in f/2-Si (14.6 and 11.0) and UCF media (12.6 and 13.5% of the mean). Thus, the nutritional quality in terms of amino acids, UFAs, EPA, and DHA in a TPG clade species, T. amphioxeia was comparable to those of RHO clade species with notable IVs. Practically, biotechnological targets for TPG clade cryptomonad strains might be subspecies or clone level.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.98-103
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• 2011

Photocatalysis using UV light and catalysts is an attractive low temperature and non-energy- intensive method for remediation of a wide range of chemical contaminants like chloroform (CF). Recently development of environmental friendly and sustainable catalytic systems is needed before such catalysts can be routinely applied to large-scale remediation or drinking water treatment. Titanium dioxide is a candidate material, since it is stable, highly reactive, and inexpensive. Diatoms are photosynthetic, single-celled algae that make a microscale silica shell with nano scale features. These diatoms have an ability to biologically fabricate $TiO_2$ nanoparticles into this shell in a process that parallels nanoscale silica mineralization. We cultivated diatoms, metabolically deposited titanium into the shell by using a two-stage photobioreactor and used this biogenic $TiO_2$ to this study. In this study we evaluated how effectively biogenic $TiO_2$ nanoparticles transform CF compared with chemically-synthesized $TiO_2$ nanoparticlesthe and effect of pretreatment of diatom-produced $TiO_2$ nanoparticles on photocatalytic transformation of CF. The rate of CF transformation by diatom-$TiO_2$ particles is a factor of 3 slower than chemically-synthesized one and chloride ion production was also co-related with CF transformation, and 79~91% of CF mineralization was observed in two $TiO_2$ particles. And the period of sonication and mass transfer due to particle size, evaluated by difference of oxygen tention does not affect on the CF transformation. Based on the XRD analysis we conclude that slower CF transformation by diatom-$TiO_2$ might be due to incomplete annealing to the anatase form.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1137-1144
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• 2017

The microalgae Chlorella vulgaris has been considered an important alternative resource for biodiesel production. However, its industrial-scale production has been constrained by the low productivity of the biomass and lipid. To overcome this problem, we isolated and characterized a potentially economical oleaginous strain of C. vulgaris via the random mutagenesis technique using UV irradiation. Two types of mass production systems were compared for their yield of biomass and lipid content. Among the several putatively oleaginous strains that were isolated, the particular mutant strain designated as UBM1-10 in the laboratory showed an approximately 1.5-fold higher cell yield and lipid content than those from the wild type. Based on these results, UBM1-10 was selected and cultivated under outdoor conditions using two different types of reactors, a tubular-type photobioreactor (TBPR) and an open pond-type reactor (OPR). The results indicated that the mutant strain cultivated in the TBPR showed more than 5 times higher cell concentrations ($2.6g\;l^{-1}$) as compared to that from the strain cultured in the OPR ($0.5g\;l^{-1}$). After the mass cultivation, the cells of UBM1-10 and the parental strain were further investigated for crude lipid content and composition. The results indicate a 3-fold higher crude lipid content from UBM1-10 (0.3%, w/w) as compared to that from the parent strain (0.1% w/w). Therefore, this study demonstrated that the economic potential of C. vulgaris as a biodiesel production resource can be increased with the use of a photoreactor type as well as the strategic mutant isolation technique.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.145-150
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• 2008

In this work we have studied the antifouling properties of the hydrophobic sol-gel modified sensing membrane and its optical properties for sensor application. E. coli JM109, B. cereus 318 and P. pastoris X-33 were cultivated in confocal cultivation dishes with glass surface, respectively. The glass surface was coated with the hydrophobic sol-gels prepared by the dimethoxy-dimethyl-silane (DiMe-DMOS) and tetramethyl-orthosilicate (TMOS). After cultivation, microorganisms adhered on the surface coated with sol-gels and glass surface were dyed by gram-staining method and the numbers of microorganisms were analyzed based on the image data of the scanning electronic microscope (SEM). A great number of microorganisms, about $2{\sim}3{\times}10^4/mm^2$, was adhered on the glass surfaces which no hydrophobic sol-gels were coated. But, the antifouling effect of the hydrophobic sol-gels was large, that microorganisms of less than $200{\sim}300/mm^2$ were adhered on the coated glass surface. The performance of the sensing membranes for detection of pH and dissolved oxygen was enhanced by recoating the light insulation layer prepared with the mixture of the hydrophobic sol-gel and graphite particles.