Co-culturing Chlorella vulgaris and Cystobasidium oligophagum JRC1 in the microbial fuel cell cathode for lipid biosynthesis

Akanksha Mishra; Meenu Chhabra

doi:10.1007/s11356-023-29232-y

Co-culturing Chlorella vulgaris and Cystobasidium oligophagum JRC1 in the microbial fuel cell cathode for lipid biosynthesis

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Aug 23. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-29232-y. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Akanksha Mishra¹, Meenu Chhabra²

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur (IITJ), Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 342037, India.
² Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur (IITJ), Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 342037, India. meenuchhabra@iitj.ac.in.

PMID: 37610543
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-29232-y

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of co-culturing the photobiont and mycobiont in the microbial fuel cell (MFC) cathode on biomass production, lipid generation, and power output. Chlorella vulgaris provides oxygen and nutrients for the yeast Cystobasidium oligophagum JRC1, while the latter offers CO₂ and quench oxygen for higher algal growth. The MFC with co-culture enhanced the lipid output of biomass by 28.33%, and the total yield and productivity were 1.47 ± 0.18 g/l and 0.123 g/l/day, respectively. Moreover, with co-culture, the open circuit voltage of 685 ± 11 mV was two times higher than algae alone. The specific growth rate (day^-1) at the cathode was 0.367 ± 0.04 in co-culture and 0.288 ± 0.05 with C. vulgaris only. The power density of the system was 5.37 ± 0.21 mW/m² with 75.88 ± 1.89% of COD removal. The co-culture thus proved beneficial at the MFC cathode in terms of total energy output as 11.5 ± 0.035 kWh/m³, which was 1.4-fold higher than algae alone.

Keywords: Algae; Bioenergy; Biomass; Lipid yield; Mixed culture; Power generation; Yeast.