Co-culturing Chlorella vulgaris and Cystobasidium oligophagum JRC1 in the Microbial fuel cell (MFC) cathode for lipid biosynthesis.

Abstract

Abstract This present study investigated the effect of co-culturing the photobiont and mycobiont in the microbial fuel cell (MFC) cathode for lipid generation. Chlorella vulgaris provides oxygen and nutrients for the yeast Cystobasidium oligophagum JRC1 while latter provides CO2 and quench oxygen for higher algae growth. Co-culture enhanced the lipid output of biomass by 28.33%. The total lipid yield and productivity with co-culture were 1.47 ± 0.18 g/L and 0.123 g/L/day respectively. The MFC attained open circuit voltage of 685 ± 11 mV. Synthetic wastewater was used at the anode with sodium acetate as a substrate. The power density of the system was 5.37 ± 0.21 mW m-2 with 75.88 ± 1.89% of COD removal. The total energy output (Lipid + Electrical energy) from the co-culture MFC was 11.5 ± 0.035 kWh m-3 which was 1.4-fold higher than algae alone.