Pelletization behavior of fungal chlorella sp.. Symbiosis system

High cost of microalgae harvesting impeded the development of algae biofuel technology and wastewater treatment to commercial practicality. Filamentous fungi and microalgae could form pellets under certain culture condition which is a novel method to reduce the cost of microalgae harversting. In this study, effects of spore inoculums size, glucose content and initial pH on the pelletization behaviors of fungi-Chlorella sp. are investigated. The results show that with the increase of spore concentration, the final pH value decreased and it is easier to form pellets. Fungi could not grow in BG-11 without glucose, but when the concentration of glucose is over 10g/L, there is no obvious effect on the size of pellets. When the initial pH is higher than 5.5, the pellets stop growing when the pellets reach 0.5mm, but in the case of pH 3.5 and 4.5, pellets could grow continuously until 1-2mm.