Ricerc@Sapienza

Microalgae cultivation processes are becoming increasingly used for food and feed production and for wastewaters treatment. Large part of laboratory experiments and industrial processes are carried out with microalgae cultivated in non-aseptic environments containing biological contaminants as bacteria, fungi, viruses and grazers. Such contaminants can significantly influence microalgae growth through interactions such as competition, parasitism, predation and mutualism.

A strategy was evaluated for conditioning activated sludge biomass to a new substrate whereby the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) accumulation capacity of the biomass was enhanced based on a series of aerobic feast– famine acclimation cycles applied prior to PHA accumula- tion.