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Drag-reducing polysaccharides from marine microalgae: species productivity and drag reduction effectiveness

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Abstract

We have conducted a study of the potential use of drag-reducing biopolymers produced by marine microalgae for engineering applications. Several marine microalgae species were tested for their production of drag-reducing polysaccharides in large custom-designed plate bioreactors. Promising species (such as Porphyridium cruentum, Rhodella maculata, Schizochlamydella capsulata and Chlorella stigmatophora) were cultured for periods of time ranging from a few weeks to over 6 months. The basic drag-reducing ability of the polysaccharides was established by comparing their drag reduction effectiveness at various concentrations in water. The algal polysaccharide mass productivity was also measured per unit area of bioreactor’s illuminated surface. Finally, an all-inclusive criterion, the volumetric production of drag-reducing water giving a set level of drag reduction was quantified, and led us to a ranking of the tested species in order of productivity relevant to implementation. Some aspects of polysaccharide production by aged cultures were investigated as well. We also quantified the drag-reducing effectiveness of intracellular polysaccharides, and visualized the presence of exopolymer particles in the medium.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge gratefully the U.S. Office of Naval Research (S. Beerman-Curtin and K. Cooper, Program Directors) for financial support of this work, and the Advanced Technology Institute (R. Self, K. Carpentier, and M. Kraft, Program Managers) for programmatic and administrative support. Thanks are also due to S. Oakes (UCSB) and T. Rehberg (UCSB) for help in the laboratory; to Prof. A. Alldredge (UCSB) for her assistance with the TEP visualization; to Jennifer Polich (UCSB) for assistance with rheometric measurements; and to Dr. M. Chen (Wyatt Technology) for molecular weight measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    K. Gasljevic, K. Hall & E. F. Matthys

  2. Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    D. Chapman

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  1. K. Gasljevic
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  2. K. Hall
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  3. D. Chapman
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  4. E. F. Matthys
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Correspondence to E. F. Matthys.

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Gasljevic, K., Hall, K., Chapman, D. et al. Drag-reducing polysaccharides from marine microalgae: species productivity and drag reduction effectiveness. J Appl Phycol 20, 299–310 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-007-9250-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-007-9250-z

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