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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Microalgae Cultivation and Biomass Quantification in a Bench-Scale Photobioreactor with Corrosive Flue Gases
Published on: December 19, 2019
Bioenergetic changes in the microalgal photosynthetic apparatus by extremely high CO2 concentrations induce an
Aikaterini Papazi1, Pavlos Makridis, Pascal Divanach
1Department of Biology, University of Crete, PO Box 2208, 71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Abstract:
Unicellular green alga Chlorella minutissima, grown under extreme carbon dioxide concentrations (0.036-100%), natural temperature and light intensities (Mediterranean conditions), strongly increase the microalgal biomass through photochemical and non-photochemical changes in the photosynthetic apparatus. Especially, CO(2) concentrations up to 10% enhance the density of active reaction centers (RC/CS(o)), decrease the antenna size per active reaction center (ABS/RC), decrease the dissipation energy (DI(o)/RC) and enhance the quantum yield of primary photochemistry (F(v)/F(m)). Higher CO(2) concentrations (20-25%) combine the above-mentioned photochemical changes with enhanced non-photochemical quenching of surplus energy, which leads to an enhanced steady-state fraction of 'open' (oxidized) PSII reaction centers (q(p)), and minimize the excitation pressure of PSII (1 - q(p)) under very high light intensities (approximately 1700 micromol m(-2) s(-1) maximal value), avoiding the photoinhibition and leading to an enormous biomass production (approximately 2500%). In conclusion, these extreme CO(2) concentrations - about 1000 times higher than the ambient one - can be easily metabolized from the unicellular green alga to biomass and can be used, on a local scale at least, for the future development of microalgal photobioreactors for the mitigation of the factory-produced carbon dioxide.
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