Transitioning an Alkaliphilic and Photosynthetic Microbial Consortium from Laboratory to Outdoor Demonstration Scale

Haines, Marianne Victoria

Transitioning an Alkaliphilic and Photosynthetic Microbial Consortium from Laboratory to Outdoor Demonstration Scale

dc.contributor.advisor	Strous, Marc
dc.contributor.author	Haines, Marianne Victoria
dc.contributor.committeemember	Strous, Marc
dc.contributor.committeemember	Tutolo, Benjamin M.
dc.contributor.committeemember	Dunfield, Peter F.
dc.contributor.committeemember	De la Hoz Siegler, Hector
dc.contributor.committeemember	Kleinegris, Dorinde M.M.
dc.date	2023-11
dc.date.accessioned	2023-10-06T19:42:18Z
dc.date.available	2023-10-06T19:42:18Z
dc.date.issued	2023-10-05
dc.description.abstract	The 21st century’s challenges—climate change, growing population, resource decline, habitat and species loss—mean that current practices must be replaced, redesigned, and improved. Phytoplankton, reliant on water, light, nutrients, and CO2, offer versatile applications in nutritional supplements, agricultural feed, bioplastics, wastewater treatment, and bioenergy production. Currently, the most successful commercial ventures center on select taxa like Spirulina and Chlorella and produce high-value products for human consumption. Expanding the scope of viable commercial taxa and their applications hinges on overcoming critical challenges in cultivation, notably biomass productivity, robustness, and resource use. Inspiration can be drawn from natural environments where phytoplankton flourish, like alkaline soda lakes. These lakes are characterized by elevated pH and high carbonate alkalinity. Growing phytoplankton in high pH (10+), high carbonate alkalinity medium (0.5 M) increases the driving force for CO2 capture into solution and helps exclude competitors and predators which can cause biomass instability. This thesis chronicles the transition of biomass from alkaline soda lakes, dominated by the cyanobacterium Sodalinema alkaliphilum, from laboratory to large-scale outdoor demonstration. Chapter 2 explores the microbes inhabiting such lakes and their societal applications. Chapter 3 describes the design, construction, and operation of laboratory photobioreactors with programmable lighting and online growth measurements. Chapter 4 follows outdoor biomass cultivation in a 1,000 L photobioreactor, demonstrating sustained growth at a pH sufficient for CO2 capture from air. In Chapter 5, cultivation in a 3,000 L open raceway pond (ORP) reports long-term medium re-use, water requirements, and CO2 capture from air, although optimisation is necessary. Operational seasons ranged 70–140 days—160 being the maximum possible in Calgary’s temperate climate. Average daily yields were ∼ 3–4 g/m2/day (ash-free) with modeling predicting productivity could reach 6 g/m2/day by reducing biomass density. Finally, Chapter 6 quantifies ORP biomass losses, with stable isotope probing unveiling insights into S. alkaliphilum physiology and ecology. In conclusion, this research explores the feasibility of growing S. alkaliphilum biomass at scale for extended durations and has generated baseline data and operational insights which can be used to inform and refine the sustainability and productivity of future iterations of this technology.
dc.identifier.citation	Haines, M. V. (2023). Transitioning an alkaliphilic and photosynthetic microbial consortium from laboratory to outdoor demonstration scale (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117342
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Sodalinema
dc.subject	Cyanobacteria
dc.subject	Alkaline soda lake
dc.subject	Biotechnology
dc.subject	Photobioreactor
dc.subject	Open raceway pond
dc.subject	Microalgae
dc.subject	Microbial consortium
dc.subject	Microbial community
dc.subject.classification	Microbiology
dc.title	Transitioning an Alkaliphilic and Photosynthetic Microbial Consortium from Laboratory to Outdoor Demonstration Scale
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Geoscience
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.