Chlorococcum

About: Chlorococcum is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 268 publications have been published within this topic receiving 7317 citations.

Microalgae of Odisha Coast as a Potential Source for Biodiesel Production

Abstract: In recent years microalgae have been proved as the potential source for biodiesel production due to high oil content. In the present study three brackish water microalgal strains (Chlorococcum sp., Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp.) of Odisha coast were screened for the suitability for biodiesel production. Among all, Scenedesmus sp. seems to be the best one for high lipid productivity (24.66mg/L/day) with high biomass yield of 0.9g/L at stationary phase. Also the Scenedesmus sp. possesses the most adequate fatty acid profile. The present study suggested that Scenedesmus sp. is appropriate for biodiesel production for its high lipid content; this strain was selected for higher scale studies.

Biology of a terrestrial green alga, Chlorococcum sp. (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyta), collected from the Miruksazi stupa in Korea

Abstract: A terrestrial chlorophyte, Chlorococcum sp., was isolated from the stone walls of Miruksazi stupa, which is a national treasure of Korea. The alga was one of the dominant organisms contributing to biodeterioration of the monument and it grew extensively on the walls of the inner room of the stupa, which had been sealed for more than 5 yr before we started this experiment. Chlorococcum survived in darkness during that time as dormant, warty, thick-walled spores. The resting spores revived in freshwater medium and released numerous unicellular progeny, which were isolated into a unialgal culture. The isolate was subjected to 18S rDNA phylogenetic analysis as well as ultrastructure and life cycle studies. In addition, the effect of salinity stress was investigated using sterile enriched seawater as a medium. Chlorococcum sp. grew in seawater culture medium for more than 5 mo and reproduced by aplanospores.

The Role of a Green Alga in the Precipitation of Calcite and the Coprecipitation of Phosphate in Freshwater

Abstract: The precipitation of calcite from a calcium bicarbonate solution, similar in ionic strength to natural hardwaters, was observed in a series of experiments utilizing an automated culture apparatus. Seeded growth experiments, using calcite seed crystals, were performed at a range of phosphate concentrations to observe inhibitory effects. These experiments demonstrated a linear relationship of increasing inhibition with increasing initial phosphate concentration. A further series of experiments was performed in which an actively photosynthesizing culture of a unicellular green alga (Chlorococcum sp.) was added to the culture vessel in order to initiate precipitation. Experiments to observe spontaneous precipitation, occurring in the absence of both seed and alga additions, were carried out to compare with precipitation rates in the algal experiments. A control experiment was also performed to investigate whether precipitation occurrred in algal cultures maintained in darkness. The carbonate site mechanistic model, developed for calcite precipitation in abiotic conditions, was used to analyse the results of the algal experiments and found to be applicable.

Protic ionic liquid-assisted cell disruption and lipid extraction from fresh water Chlorella and Chlorococcum microalgae

Abstract: Protic ionic liquids (PILs) with their ability to host labile protons and form hydrogen bonds are likely to be efficient catalyst for bioprocessing. This is one of the first reports investigating PIL-assisted microalgal cell disruption and lipid extraction. The applicability of several PILs with butyrolactam, caprolactam, propylammonium and hydroxypropylammonium cations in combination with formate, acetate and hexanoate anions for cell disruption and lipid extraction from fresh water Chlorella and Chlorococcum sp. have been evaluated in this study. The investigations were performed with de-watered wet microalgae under ambient temperatures and hence do not require any energy intensive drying and/or processing steps. The PILs with formate and hexanoate anions when compared with conventional pre-treatment techniques: sonication, microwave and cellulase provided better microalgal cell disruption efficiencies. The FESEM analysis for the Butyrolactam hexanoate (BTH) treated cells show extensive pattern of microalgal cell disruption. The fluorescence imaging analysis coupled with culturing experiments indicates a near-complete disruption and loss in viability of the PIL-treated microalgal cells. The lipid yield from the formate and hexanoate anions-PILs was statistically comparable and/or higher to the Bligh & dyer control method. Among the PILs, BTH recorded 1.86 and 1.72 folds higher lipid yields than the control method with Chlorella and Chlorococcum sp. respectively. The lipids show predominance of C16 and C18 fatty acids similar to lipid profile obtained with the control method. Furthermore, the PILs were also found to have a beneficial role in reducing the chlorophyll pigments in the final lipid product. Overall, the results show PILs with formate and hexanoate anions can be utilized for a relatively energy efficient, one-step cell disruption and lipid extraction process from wet microalgae.