title: The contamination and control of biological pollutants in mass cultivation of microalgae.
abstract: The potential of microalgae as a biomass feedstock for biofuels, bioproducts and as a technological solution for CO(2) fixation is subject to intense academic and industrial researches. However, current microalgal mass culture technologies have failed to produce bulk volume of microalgal biomass at low cost, because the contaminations of biological pollutants become a big constraint in mass cultivation and impede the industrial process. Here the transmission routes, contamination mechanisms of biological pollutants both in open ponds and photobioreactors are described and recent attempts to overcome the barrier are reviewed. What worth noting, unlike conventional microbial fermentation which uses a pure monoculture, the cultivation of microalgae is a complicated symbiotic system of microalgae-bacterial-zooplankton where the target microalgae dominate, cross infection or contamination by biological pollutants is inevitable and it will require much further research. Further investigation and development of control methods are necessary, particularly microalgal strain selection.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong 266101, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Junfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tianzhong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000502:physiology*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants