Insights into Leveraging Alga–Bacterium Cooperation for Dairy Wastewater Valorization
Description
The integration of microalgae-bacteria consortia into wastewater treatment offers a promising strategy for sustainable biomass production and bioremediation. This study investigates the performance of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in consortium with Serratia liquefaciens DWW128, isolated from raw dairy wastewater (DWW). The consortium, and respective monocultures were cultivated in both untreated, raw DWW and sterile, simulated DWW (sDWW). C. reinhardtii alone exhibited negligible growth in sDWW, while the native microbial community of raw DWW supported its growth (35.2 µg·mL⁻¹ chlorophyll and 1.6 g·L⁻¹ of biomass). However, native microorganisms also negatively affect the alga by limiting its maximum growth compared to cocultures with S. liquefaciens in raw DWW (53.2 µg·mL⁻¹ chlorophyll, 3.1 g·L⁻¹ biomass) and in sDWW (90 µg·mL⁻¹ chlorophyll, 7.1 g·L⁻¹ biomass). The enhancement of algal growth is more pronounced under aerobic conditions, and the supply of ammonium through bacterial proteolytic activity, and possibly also acetic acid, are key factors for algal growth. Cocultures can reduce up to 57.6 % of the bacterial CO2 emissions. In contrast, S. liquefaciens did not depend on C. reinhardtii to grow successfully in DWW and can produce a substantial amount of bioH2 (200.7 mL·L-1) in 48 h. However, the presence of the alga enhances the bacterium´s viability and persistence. This study provides valuable insights into harnessing the metabolic specialization of diverse microalgal and bacterial species to design tailored consortia capable of exploiting the broad spectrum of nutrient sources in wastewater, enabling more robust and effective biotechnological applications
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Institutions
- Universidad de Cordoba
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Funders
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónGrant ID: Grants PID2019-105936RB-C22
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónGrant ID: TED2021-130438B-I00
- Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónGrant ID: PID2024-156565OB-I00