In this paper we introduce a simple droplet-based microfluidic system consisting of two separate devices to encapsulate and culture microalgae, in contrast to cultivation in bulk liquid medium. This microdroplet technology has been used to monitor the growth of individual microalgal cells in a constant environment for extended periods of time. Single cells from three species of green microalgae...

Increasing demand for renewable fuels has researchers investigating the feasibility of alternative feedstocks, such as microalgae. Inherent advantages include high potential yield, use of non-arable land and integration with waste streams. The nutrient requirements of a large-scale microalgae production system will require the coupling of cultivation systems with industrial waste resources, suc...

The running down of fossil energy sources makes the production of bioenergy an expected need worldwide. Therefore, energy crops have gained increasing attention in recent years as a source for the production of bioenergy because they do not compete with food crops. Microalgae have numerous advantages such as fast growth rates and not competing with food production. Because of the fast growth, m...

Microalgae are a promising alternative for sustainable biofuel production, but production yields and costs present a significant bottleneck. Here, the use of glycerol and xylose to boost the lipid yield was evaluated using ten strains from the Université de Montréal collection of microalgae. This report shows that some microalgal strains are capable of mixotrophic and heterotrophic growth on xy...

Sustainable production of renewable energy is being hotly debated globally since it is increasingly understood that first generation biofuels, primarily produced from food crops and mostly oil seeds are limited in their ability to achieve targets for biofuel production, climate changemitigation and economic growth. These concerns have increased the interest in developing second generation biofu...

Microalgae are currently emerging as one of the most promising alternative sources for the next generation of food, feed, cosmetics and renewable energy in the form of biofuel. Microalgae constitute a diverse group of microorganisms with advantages like fast and efficient growth. In addition, they do not compete for arable land and offer very high lipid yield potential. Major challenges for the...

Large scale microalgae cultivation actually represents a potential new source of renewable energy in the form of biofuel. Microalgae are individual plant cells which have the ability to photosynthesize and therefore utilize CO2, micronutrients and solar light to multiply and produce carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Microalgae cultivation has several advantages over land grown crops. The majo...

Hydroxylated- and methoxylated- polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs and MeO-PBDEs) are more toxic than PBDEs and occur widely in the marine environment, and yet their origins remain controversial. In this study, four species of microalgae (Isochrysis galbana, Prorocentrum minimum, Skeletonema grethae and Thalassiosira pseudonana) were exposed to BDE-47, which is synthetic and is the predom...

Despite the high potential as feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals, the industrial cultivation of microalgae still exhibits many issues. Yield in microalgae cultivation systems is limited by the solar energy that can be harvested. The availability of reliable models representing key phenomena affecting algae growth may help designing and optimizing effective production systems at...

Coimmobilization of the freshwater microalga Chlorella vulgaris and the plant-growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillum brasilense in small alginate beads resulted in a significantly increased growth of the microalga. Dry and fresh weight, total number of cells, size of the microalgal clusters (colonies) within the bead, number of microalgal cells per cluster, and the levels of microalgal pigment...