July | August

Feature heading: Microalgae

Feature title: Microalgae: its application and potential
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 Microalgae Microalgae

Microalgae:
of these components, particularly so in
some species rich in ω-3 and ω-6 fatty
acids.
Today, commercial microalgae produc-
tion is used to produce algal biomass for
direct use as feed additives in the food
and feed industry or for the extraction of
high-valued components such as vitamins
(C & D2), ω- fatty acids, pigments and anti-
reactors in USA, Israel and
India primarily for use in the
salmon feed industry.
Smaller scale commercial
production takes place of
a number of other species:
Porphyridium sp. (Arachidonic
acid), Phaeodactylum tricornu-
tum (Eicosapentaenoic acid)

its application and potential oxidants (B carotene, astaxanthin, lutein)

and stable isotope bio-chemicals.
Commercial production
In order to produce a commercial product
and Scenedesmus obliquus
(Carotenoids).
Many of these systems
have been in operation for
more than 20 years and their

- a valuable resource for the 21st Century from microalgae, either as whole cells or an
extract, algal biomass must first be produced
in a cost effective manner, be consistent in
by Dr Elizabeth Sweetman, Ecomarine Ltd, Livadi, 28200 Lixouri, Cephalonia, Greece Email: ecomarin@hol.gr batch quality and produced a biosecure, con-
taminant free product. Production is either
based on high volumes of low quality product
success has been dependant
on developing a good under-
standing of the physiology,
biochemistry and ecology of
the algae being cultured and
the application of appropriate

M
icroalgae have been
studied since the late
19th Century and
approximately 40,000
freshwater and marine algal species
have been identified. Cultured algal
species account for barely 10 percent
of these.
Recently considerable effort has been
made to understand more fully and exploit
the unique characteristics of certain species of glucose (see Figure 1). Glucose can then
for a variety of applications in the food,
feed, cosmetic, nutriceutical, chemical and
biodiesel industries.
Microalgae are typically unicellular and
like their plant relatives grow photosyn-
thetically using light, carbon dioxide and
other nutrients but in an aerated liquid
culture medium.
Microalgae normally grow photosyn-
thetically using light energy to fix carbon
dioxide into hydrocarbons with oxygen
Figure 1: Simple overview of the photosynthetic process
discharged as a waste product according to
the formula:
CO2 + H2O ------ Cn(H2O)n + O2
Photosynthesis takes place during the
light phase and pigments capture light to
generate ATP and NADPH2. These energy
rich components are then used in the
Calvin cycle to convert carbon dioxide into
organic molecules (C3 sugars) catalysed by
enzymes which combine to form molecules
be converted to polysaccharides or fatty
acids which are important building blocks
in many cell processes.
Some microalgae species can use a vari-
ety of organic carbon sources either as a
supplement to photosynthesis (mixotrophs)
or replace it completely in heterotrophic
production which takes place in the dark.
In heterotrophic growth microalgae assimi-
late organic substances, usually glucose, acetate
or glycerol to cover their carbon and energy
requirements. The
organic substances
are respired in
mitochondria with
oxygen acting as an
electron receptor
similarly to respira-
tion in animal cells.
Where is
algae used?
Dr Elizabeth Sweetman
Dr Elizabeth Sweetman is an ocea-
nographic chemist with 25 years of
experience in marine larval rearing and
has been responsible for the establish-
ment of numerous commercial micro-
algae and live feed production units
for various aquaculture species. Her
consultancy company Ecomarine Ltd
can be contacted at ecomarin@hol.gr
or Tel: +30 6944554498.
The amino acid profile of almost all
algae compares favourably to other food
or low volumes of high quality product. engineering principles to the
Almost all commercial scale production design system.
currently takes place in open outdoor The same period has seen
significant advances made Picture1: Photobioreactors at Kefalonia
circulating raceways or ponds that typically
Fisheries, Greece - a bass and bream hatchery
range in size from 5m3 to 1000m3. in cultivation methods to
Open ponds are generally restricted improve produc-
to tropical and subtropical zones with tivity. The intro-
high levels of natural sunlight, low rainfall duction of highly
and low cloud cover. The major disad- controlled closed
vantage of open outdoor systems is that or nearly closed
they are susceptible to contamination by photobioreactors
other microbes, zooplankton and other (PBR), where
indigenous algal species and it is for this energy is supplied
reason that commercial production has either by direct
been limited to a relatively small number sunlight or by
of species due to their niche environmental artificial lighting,
growth conditions. or fermentors
The 1960s saw the development of where energy
continuous large scale methods in Japan for is supplied from
the mass production of Chlorella producing
today approximately 2000 tonnes of dry
organic carbon
sources.
FOOD CHAIN
product per year for whole-cell dietary D e s i g n
supplements.
Arthrospira autotrophic cultivation (for-
aspects of these
systems have
From Farm to Table
merly known as Spirulina) takes place in been reviewed by
open raceway ponds in USA, China and Ugwu et al, 2008
India and produces some 3000 tonnes of for photobioreac-
product per year again used directly for tors and by Chen
food supplements. & Chen, 2006 for
Approximate 1200 tonnes per year are heterotrophic
produced of another green alga Dunaliella microalgal pro-
salina from which β-carotene is extracted duction. (see The premier meeting point for the feed and food industry in 2010.
in Australia, USA, Japan, China and India. picture 1) Addressing common concerns and identifying opportunities.
β-carotene can constitute up to 14 percent Closed or
of its dry weight. About 500 tonnes per year nearly closed pro-
Join us in Cancun, Mexico!. For more information visit:

Microalgae are
rich sources of
protein sources, the carbohydrate com-
ponents are highly digestible, however,
of the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis, duction systems www.globalfeed-food.com
containing up to six percent astaxanthin is allow greater Hosted jointly by
protein, carbohy- it is the lipid content that is especially in co-operation
produced autotrophically or mixotrophi- control over ste- FAO & IFIF with Conafab
drates and lipids. interesting because of the functionality cally in raceways, ponds and photobio- rility and culture

28 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | July-august 09 July-august 09 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 29

IFIF QP AD.indd 1 19/06/2009 15:34
Microalgae
conditions (Light, carbon dioxide, nutrient
levels and temperature). Under optimal
culture conditions higher cell densities can
be achieved than in open pond culture
systems corresponding to 5g dry weight of
phototrophic biomass and 60g dry weight
of heterotrophic biomass being produced
per litre (Muellar –Feuga, 2004). Behrens
2005 reports that when just the energy
costs of producing a kilo of dry algal biomass
are considered heterotrophic production of
algae will generally be more economic than
phototrophic growth using artificial lighting
(US$2.01 versus US$11.22 respectively).
A variety of bag and tank culture
facilities have been used in either
natural or artificial light environ-
ments. In house production enabled
the hatcheries to control own prod-
uct, its quality and biosecurity.
These units were essential design
components, vital to the operation
of the hatcheries either for feed-
ing shellfish larvae or growing and
enriching rotifers for feeding in the
early fish larval stages or for using in
the larval rearing tanks for the “green
water techniquea”. (see picture 2.)
Significant advances were made
in the commercialisation of pho-
tobioreactor technology in the
mid 1990s and the introduction of
such systems to the Mediterranean
sea bass and sea bream industry
resulted in a dramatic improvement
in algal productivity with concentra-
tions of microalgae of up to 10 times
that achieved with the traditional
systems and this reduced the algal
production cost to the hatcheries.
During the same period
Nannochloropsis sp was also being
produced commercially in the
USA in open ponds for the pro-
duction of aquaculture pastes. The
last 12 years has seen a rise in the
number of companies producing
concentrated algal pastes and an
increase in the variety of species
available for use in the aquacul-
ture industry.
These algal pastes, depending on
the species cultured, range from
preserved to live paste and from
fresh to freeze dried products.
However, the early concerns of
the industry was the biosecurity of
Photo 2: Green water larval rearing
such products but now processing
technologies have in many cases
Several species of microalgae Tetraselmis, eliminated these concerns. The cost and
Nannochloropsis, Isochrysis, Pavlova, Chlorella, availability of safe paste products has
Chaetoceros, Skelotonema, Thassiosira, and resulted in some recently constructed
Nitzschia are grown commercially for use hatcheries, particularly in the emerg-
in the marine fish, crustacean and shellfish ing cod industry, to rely entirely on
aquaculture industry and approximately purchased paste products and therefore
one-fifth of the algal biomass produced is avoid the capital and operational costs of
reported to be used in aquaculture hatcher- live algal production.
ies (Mueller-Fuega 2004). In Japan freshwater Chlorella destined
Traditionally most fish and shellfish for the aquaculture industry is produced
hatcheries have had their own algal pro- heterotrophically as a valued added prod-
duction facilities producing a variety of uct and manipulated to improve its fatty
species suitable for the animals being acid profile and mineral content using
cultured. proprietary osmotic technologies.
Table 1: Oil yields of various crops
Oil Yield
Crop litre/ha/
year
Corn 168
Cotton 327
Soybean 440
Mustard sees 570
Sunflower 950
Rapeseed / Canola 1600
Jatropha 1800
Oil Palm 6000
Safflower 780
Castor 1400
Jojoba 1800
Coconut 2700
Algae (20mg/m2/day at
11,200
15% TAG)
Algae (50g/m2/day at
93,000
50% TAG)
This provides an algal cell as a bio-
particle rich in a number of components
not naturally available and at concentra-
tions that enable efficient culture and
enrichment of zooplankton feeds, in order
to better match the nutritional require-
ments of the marine larvae being cultured.
Heterotrophic production
Large scale conventional fermentation
methods have been used to grow hetero-
trophically the dinophycean Crypthecodinium
cohnii (>100m3) and thraustochytrids
Schizochytrium and Ulkenia sp. (80m3). These
species are rich in docosahexaenoic acid
(DHA) a long chain polyunsaturated fatty
acid and can be considered a sustainable
source of this essential fatty acid. DHA
productivity is reported to reach 3gDHA /
litre /day with Schitzochytrium.
The dried product has been shown
to be effective in enrichment diets for
rotifers and Artemia (Harel et al, 2002,
Yamasaki et al., 2007) and early larval
weaning diets due to their high yields
of DHA. They are also used to provide
DHA- rich oils for human nutrition (Kyle
et al 1992).
Interest has developed further in the
production of these and other closely
related species as they offer a source of
long-chain PUFA’s that have the poten-
tial to become an alternative sustainable
Microalgae
source and therefore help to meet the astaxanthin in cells of Haematococcus pluvialis
increasing demand for fish oil that is (Boussiba 2000).
a critical limiting factor for the future The cost price of production is
expansion of aquaculture activities. important and many new companies and
Oil extracted from the algae can suc- research groups are developing activities
cessfully replace marine fish oil in the diet in these areas. For example, Zaslavskaia
for Atlantic salmon parr without affecting et al, (2001) transformed Phaeodactylum
their growth (Miller et al., 2007). Dried tricornutum from an obligate phototroph
algae of Schizochytrium sp. has been shown to a heterotroph thriving on glucose in
to be a good source of DHA for sea bream the absence of light using the Glut 1 gene
larvae (Ganuza et al., 2008). from human erythrocytes. This offers the
potential to produce an algal species in
Future work either manner.
The cultivation of microalgae offers
much potential and many new opportuni- Biofuels
ties. There is strong interest in microalgae The technologies exist today for the
production for products of pharmaceuti- commercial production of biofuels from
cal interest and particularly in biofuels. food crops such as grains, sugar beet and
Recent advances have been made in oil seeds, the first generation biofuels and
identifying suitable species, engineering these are well developed and understood
photosynthesis and enhancing and manip- in a mature market.
ulation of crucial metabolic pathways. This However, many questions have been
uses environmental factors to redirect raised about their sustainability and their
cellular function towards the synthesis of ability to substitute for oil products as the
preferred products and can even expand food crops required for biofuel produc-
the processing
capabilities of
the microalgae.
Chlorella
protothecoides
cultured het-
erotrophically
has been shown
to accumulate
as much as 55
percent of its
dry weight as
oil compared
to 14 percent
in cells grown
photoautotropi-
cally (Wu and
Miao 2006). In
heterotrophic
production
systems, a
b i o - av a i l a b l e
nitrogen defi-
ciency has been
shown to result
in a higher lipid
synthesis and
therefore higher
oil accumula-
tion in starved
cells (Sheehan
et al 1998)
and a higher
accumulation of

30 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | July-august 09 July-august 09 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 31

 Microalgae
tion appears to create undue competition
for land and water resources used for
food production therefore driving up
food prices.
Second generation biofuels utilise
more abundant non-food biomass such
as agricultural and forestry residues
(cereal straw, bagasse and vegetative
grasses).
However, the technologies used have
not yet reached large scale commer-
cial production but offer potential for
increased production efficiency and cost
reductions.
In the EU biofuel production has
focussed on biodiesel due to the higher
fuel economy of diesel engines and the
agricultural practises in Europe. Biodiesel
is produced from the triglycerides, a
major component of vegetable oil, which
are broken down or transesterified with
alcohols such as methanol or etha-
nol into smaller straight chained alkyl
esters similar to the standard diesel
hydrocarbons.
"Microalgae possess many
unique and interesting
biochemical properties that
are playing an increasingly
important role in many aspects
of our daily lives from nutrition
through to energy production"
Microalgae can be far more productive
than other feedstuffs with the oil yield per
hectare of microalgae significantly exceed-
ing other common oil sources such as soya
and rapeseed. (see Table 1).
Microalgae like higher plants produce
storage lipids in the form of triglycerols
(TAGs) which can be used to synthesize
fatty acid methyl esters (a substitute for
32 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | July-august 09
fossil derived diesel fuel). The production
of microalgae as an alternative feedstock
for biodiesel production has several key
advantages.
• It is environmentally sustainable
• It does not compete with agriculture
as it does not require soil for growth
• Microalgae are highly bio-degradea-
ble, containing no sulphur therefore
there are zero sulphur dioxide
emissions.
• Microalgae can be cultivated in a phototrophic cells without light. Biotechnol Lett
variety of systems and depending
on the choice of this can be used
in a variety of locations with limited
water requirements.
• If grown using photosynthetic meth-
ods microalgae production can be
considered carbon neutral.
Conclusion
Microalgae possess many unique and
interesting biochemical properties that
are playing an increasingly important role
in many aspects of
our daily lives from
nutrition through to
energy production.
Aquaculture
already successfully
uses many species as
an essential compo-
nent of the live food
chain in the produc-
tion of a number of
high valued species.
The potential that
microalgae has, to act
as a partial replace-
ment of fish oils,
offers the opportu-
nity for the continued
expansion of global
aquaculture produc-
tion while at the same
time maintaining the
well publicised nutri-
tional benefits that
aquaculture products
offer to human nutrition and health.
Microalgae species research and
the development of cost effective
and industrial scale production proc-
esses are ongoing and their successful
application will enable microalgae to
develop their full potential as a new
and exciting resource of valuable
organisms in the 21st century.
References
Behrens P.W. (2005). Photobioreactors and
Fermentors: the light and dark sides of growing
algae. In: Algal Culturing Techniques. Edited by
R.A. Andersen. Elsevier Academic Press, 189-
204.
Boussiba S. (2000). Carotenogenesis in the
green algal Haematococcus pluvialis: cellular
physiology and stress response. Physiol Plant
108, 111-117
Chen F., Chen G.Q. (2006). Growing
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Ganuza E., Benitez-Santana T., Atalah E., Vega-
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