INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR CO2 FIXATION IN NEW PHOTOBIOREACTOR DESIGN AS A PERSPECTIVE FRAMEWORK FOR MICROALGAL GREEN FACTORIES
TANYA CHAN KIM1, MAYA MARGARITOVA ZAHARIEVA1,YANA ILIEVA1, ANNA BRACHKOVA2, SNEZHANA RUSINOVA-VIDEVA3, ALEXANDAR ADAMOV3, DIMITRINA ZHELEVA-DIMITROVA4,VESSELA BALABANOVA-BOZUSHKA4, RENETA GEVRENOVA4,MILA KALEVA1, MILKA MILEVA5, ALMIRA GEORGIEVA5,6,HRISTO NAJDENSKI1, ALEXANDER KROUMOV2*
1Department of Infectious Microbiology, The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, BAS,Sofia 1113, Bulgaria, E-mail: zaharieva26@gmail.com, illievayana@gmail.com, hnajdenski@abv.bg;
2Department of Biotechnology, Laboratory of bio-conversion and biosynthesis of microbial metabolites, Sofia 1113, Bulgaria, E-mail: adkrumov@gmail.com;
3Department of Biotechnology, Laboratory cellular biosystems, The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, BAS, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, E-mail: jrusinova@abv.bg;
4Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University – Sofia, E-mail: rgevrenova@pharmfac.mu-sofia.bg, dzheleva@pharmfac.mu-sofia.bg, vbalabanova@pharmfac.mu-sofia.bg;
5Department of Virology, The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, BAS, Bulgaria, E-mail: milkamileva@gmail.com, almirageorgieva@gmail.com;
6Institute of Neurobiology, BAS,Sofia, Bulgaria, E-mail: almirageorgieva@gmail.com
* Corresponding author: adkrumov@gmail.com
Keywords: photobioreactors, microalgae, Scenedesmus obliquus, antibacterial activity, CO2 sequestration
Abstract: The integral biorefinery concept was realized in a multifunctional laboratory created in SAIM-BAS (The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) with a new photobioreactor (PBR) design. The laboratory includes two stages: inoculum stage (8 PBRs with 1 litre geometric volume) and production stage (4 PBRs with 3 litters geometric volume) where concurrent hypotheses were checked. Small-scale PBRs in the inoculum stage with external white and internal green light were investigated by applying Scenedesmus obliquus strain. The maximum biomass achieved was 4.316 g/L. The dichloromethane extracts obtained from this biomass synergistically potentiated the antibacterial activity of gentamicin against a pathogenic strain of the bacterial species Staphylococcus aureus at low concentrations (50 mg/L) thereby decreasing the minimal inhibitory concentration of the antibiotic fourfold (from 0.5 to 0.125 mg/L). In conclusion, the proposed PBR design for the inoculum stage is promising for maximum utilization of biomass in order to obtain high-value products.
The estimated potential of the S. obliquus extract to potentiate the activity of gentamicin will be of practical use by the development of health-promoting nutrients in human or veterinary medicine. The creation of multifunctional laboratories in Bulgaria based on our experience in Brazil demonstrated the success of our engineering approach to study integrated systems with many interrelations.