Chlorella spp

In Japan Chlorella spp has been produced for food in continuous aseptic systems in conventional bioreactors. The organisms are grown in the dark as heterotrophs using sucrose (in the form of molasses) or glucose as carbon and energy source. Production has been 2,000-3,000 tonnes per year at a selling price of (US)10-22 kg 1 (1990 prices). This product is sold as a high-value health food. 

In the production of Chlorella spp for SCP from molasses, bioreactors rather than lagoons are used because ... 

Only Chlorella spp. can use foe CO2 in such exhaust gas emissions. Open (sunlit) lagoons would be necessary. 

More recently, Rieper (1976) showed that the growth of a fraction of the bacterial population in the Schlei Fjord (Baltic Sea) is enhanced by actively growing cells of Chlorella spp., whereas other bacteria are inhibited by the same algae at the termination of their spring bloom (Fig. 4). In the late summer a symbiotic or mutualistic relationship exists between other bacteria and the alga Microcystis aeruginosa. 

Mutanda, T., Karthikeyan, S., Bux, F., 2011a. The utilization of post-chlorinated municipal domestic wastewater for biomass and lipid production by Chlorella spp. under batch conditions. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 164, 1126—1138. 

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