Abstract
Microalgae and cyanobacteria represent a valuable natural resource for the generation of a large variety of chemical substances that are of interest for medical research, can be used as additives in cosmetics and food production, or as an energy source in biogas plants. The variety of potential agents and the use of microalgae and cyanobacteria biomass for the production of these substances are little investigated and not exploited for the market. Due to the enormous biodiversity of microalgae and cyanobacteria, they hold great promise for novel products. In this study, we investigated a large number of microalgal and cyanobacterial strains from the Culture Collection of Algae at Göttingen University (SAG) with regard to their biomass and biogas production, as well antibacterial and antifungal effects. Our results demonstrated that microalgae and cyanobacteria are able to generate a large number of economically-interesting substances in different quantities dependent on strain type. The distribution and quantity of some of these components were found to reflect phylogenetic relationships at the level of classes. In addition, between closely related species and even among multiple isolates of the same species, the productivity may be rather variable.
Highlights
Our study shows that the capability to produce antibacterial and antifungal compounds has evolved independent of phylogenetic relationship in microalgae and cyanobacteria
45 cyanobacterial and microalgal strains from five different divisions, eight classes and one unclear taxon were investigated for their potential use in biomass and biogas production
Our results show that the production of biogas by the investigated microalgal and cyanobacterial strains is highly dependent on both taxonomic division and species
Summary
Energy is increasingly becoming a scarce resource worldwide. Fossil-based fuels (oil, gas and coal) are presently the most affordable energy source but will increasingly become expensive as these resources will rapidly decrease with growing global demand in the future. Microalgae are suitable for cultivation at high CO2 concentrations [7,8,9], as well as to convert CO2 from flue gas into biomass and subsequently biomass to biofuels and other valuable products [10] Their growth rates are higher than conventional crop plants under optimal culture condition [11,12]. The suitability of six microalgae species was investigated in order to integrate anaerobic fermentation in final step of microalgae-based biorefinery concepts [14]. These authors showed that the biogas potential is strongly dependent on the species and on the pretreatment. The same composition, such as structure of cell wall, plays a decisive role for the degradability of biomass, as well as the production of biogas
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
