Swansea University researchers involved in WP7 of the ENHANCE Microalgae project (https://www.enhancemicroalgae.eu/), have finished successfully the first culture trial in their brand new Phyco-Flow Photobioreactor (http://www.variconaqua.com/). Isochrysis galbana was the microalgae chosen to test the new PBR. Isochrysis is a well-known delicate (flagellate) species that is widely used in aquaculture. After harvesting (Picture 1), the culture was dewatered using a membrane technology from Membranology (https://membranology.com/), the biomass dried, and is now ready to send to our project partners. The biological data obtained from this first trial will be used to help further develop the projects Decision Support Tool (data have already been amassed for Chlorella, Nannochloropsis, Porphyridium).
A second run is in progress, now growing a strain of the cyanobacteria genus, Nostoc spp., as provided from CIIMAR, Portugal. At Swansea the initial Nostoc culture has been adapted to grow on the commercial f/2 media, and has now been inoculated into the 1000L Phyco-Flow reactor. So far it has been growing very well (Picture 1).