TY - JOUR

T1 - Outdoor cultivation of a novel isolate of the microalgae Scenedesmus sp. and the evaluation of its potential as a novel protein crop

AU - Olsen, Malene Fog Lihme

AU - Pedersen, Jakob Skov

AU - Thomsen, Sune Tjalfe

AU - Martens, Helle J.

AU - Petersen, Annette

AU - Jensen, Poul Erik

N1 - Special Issue Article Funding information: Innovationsfonden, Grant/Award Number: 8055-00019B; Novo Nordisk Fonden, Grant/Award Number: NNF16OC0021832; Villum Fonden, Grant/Award Number: 13363

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - A Danish strain of the green microalgae Scenedesmus sp. was isolated, identified and characterized with respect to productivity under outdoor cultivation conditions at northern latitudes. The algae were cultivated outdoors in Denmark in closed tubular photobioreactors using only sunlight, simple inorganic nutrients and under ambient temperatures. The biomass composition was evaluated in terms of protein content and quality. The average volumetric and areal biomass productivity obtained for the Scenedesmus sp. isolate during outdoor cultivation was 0.083 g dry matter L−1 and 6.40 g dm m−2 day−1, respectively. Thus, productivities are comparable to data reported in the literature under similar conditions. A strain-specific nitrogen to protein conversion factor of 5.5 was determined for the Scenedesmus sp. strain enabling more accurate protein estimations from simple nitrogen determination methods like Kjeldahl analysis in the future. The protein content was determined to be 52.4% of dried biomass for this Scenedesmus strain. The sum of essential amino acids was 42% which is high compared to other microalgae. The results are compared and discussed in comparison to other microalgae and soybean as a common plant protein source.

AB - A Danish strain of the green microalgae Scenedesmus sp. was isolated, identified and characterized with respect to productivity under outdoor cultivation conditions at northern latitudes. The algae were cultivated outdoors in Denmark in closed tubular photobioreactors using only sunlight, simple inorganic nutrients and under ambient temperatures. The biomass composition was evaluated in terms of protein content and quality. The average volumetric and areal biomass productivity obtained for the Scenedesmus sp. isolate during outdoor cultivation was 0.083 g dry matter L−1 and 6.40 g dm m−2 day−1, respectively. Thus, productivities are comparable to data reported in the literature under similar conditions. A strain-specific nitrogen to protein conversion factor of 5.5 was determined for the Scenedesmus sp. strain enabling more accurate protein estimations from simple nitrogen determination methods like Kjeldahl analysis in the future. The protein content was determined to be 52.4% of dried biomass for this Scenedesmus strain. The sum of essential amino acids was 42% which is high compared to other microalgae. The results are compared and discussed in comparison to other microalgae and soybean as a common plant protein source.

KW - Faculty of Science

U2 - 10.1111/ppl.13532

DO - 10.1111/ppl.13532

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34427928

VL - 173

SP - 483

EP - 494

JO - Physiologia Plantarum

JF - Physiologia Plantarum

SN - 0031-9317

IS - 2

ER -