Use of phototrophic microorganisms in bioprocesses

Light can be used by phototrophs as energy source and allows CO2 fixation in the system.

Ongoing research on phototrophs using modeling and experimental approaches

• Understanding and optimizing physiological and metabolic responses of microalgae in relation to i)  dark fermentation effluents [1], ii)  the presence of bacteria or other microorganisms, iii)  algal culture conditions and iv)  algal species and their trophic mode 
• Synergistic co-cultures of bacteria and microalgae for maximizing C/N/P recovery
• Ecology of (static) photogranulation [2]
• Engineering stable artificial syntrophic consortia of photogranules based on division of labor for aeration-free wastewater treatment [3,4]
• Conversion of CH4 into value-added products by photogranules
• Improving conversion efficiency of H2 and CO2 into single-cell protein by Phototrophic Purple Bacteria (PPB) [5]
• Impact of Anaerobic digestion (AD) / Dark Fermentation (DF) effluents on PPB growth and on the quality of final products
• Nitrogen fixation of PPB when grown with N2 as sole nitrogen source

Equipments for ecophysiology studies

Physiological & morphological diversity of phototrophic microorganisms

Environmental biorefinery bioprocesses integrating phototrophs