First use of the WAVE™ disposable rocking bioreactor for enhanced bioproduct synthesis by N₂‐fixing cyanobacteria

Abstract

WAVE™ rocking disposable bioreactors have been successfully utilized for bioproduct development from bacteria, yeast, microalgae, and animal and plant cells but not from cyanobacteria so far. N2 -fixing cyanobacteria represent a prolific bioproducts source with reduced cultivation costs. In this study, 1 L cultures of the N2 -fixing cyanobacterium Anabaena siamensis grown diazotrophically in the WAVE™ bioreactor exhibited increased phosphate consumption and 37-70% higher CO2 fixation rates than those grown in conventional bubbled suspension (BS) batch cultures. This generated 40-80% increased biomass productivities in the WAVE™ bioreactor reaching 60 mg L(-1) day(-1) when supplemented with 10% CO2 . Consequently, WAVE™ generated 36-153% more protein, lipid, and carbohydrate than BS, including 47-100% increased productivity of phycocyanin and stearidonic acid (SA) with relevant biomedical applications. While the type of culture system (BS or WAVE(TM) ) did not affect the biochemical profile of cyanobacterial biomass, 10% CO2 supplementation induced a significant decrease in fatty acids and phycocyanin contents (mg g(-1) DW). Therefore, for commercial applications, the CO2 supplementation of WAVE™ should be optimized for each targeted bioproduct separately. This study opens possibilities for upgrading the WAVE™ systems to photobioreactors (PBRs) for bioproduct development from cyanobacteria, with opportunities and challenges critically evaluated herein.

A mechanistic model for gas–liquid mass transfer prediction in a rocking disposable bioreactor

“…Insect cells, including Sf‐21, Sf‐9, and S2 cells, were cultivated by several researchers using bench‐top scale rocking bioreactors from different suppliers under varied conditions (Ghasemi, Bozorg, Rahmati, Mirhassani, & Hosseininasab, ; Imseng et al, ; Wang et al, ; Weber, Weber, Geisse, & Memmert, ). Additionally, cultivations of anaerobic but shear‐sensitive microbial cells and cyanobacteria cells were also reported in some previous works (Cirés, Alvarez‐Roa, & Heimann, ; Jonczyk et al, ). A novel type of 2D rocking bioreactor (i.e., with vertical and horizontal motion) was reported to be capable of cultivating microbial cells with intensive oxygen demand by enhancing the gas–liquid mass transfer capacity through simultaneously combining the vertical and horizontal displacement of the rocking platform (Westbrook, Scharer, Moo‐Young, Oosterhuis, & Perry Chou, ).…”

Effect of CO2 and metal-rich waste water on bioproduct potential of the diazotrophic freshwater cyanobacterium, Tolypothrix sp.

“…Supplementation with 15% CO 2 resulted in strongly increased biomass productivities and yields, indicating that non-CO 2 controls were carbon-limited. Increased biomass productivities and yields were comparable to those observed for 10% CO 2 -fertilized cultivation of the diazotrophic cyanobacterium Anabaena siamensis under normal batch culture and in a novel WAVE™ bioreactor, respectively (Cirés et al., 2015). In contrast, nitrogen- and 10% CO 2 -supplemented cultures of Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella pyrenoidosa achieved 42–43% higher biomass yields (Tang et al., 2011).…”

“…Cultivation in ADW would require a biorefinery approach to extract and purify high-value compounds and to overcome the problem of metal contamination. This approach is feasible for the high-value PBP market worth $60 million per year (Cirés et al., 2015). The observed CO 2 -induced increase in PBP-productivity and content of Tolypothrix sp.…”

Rapid expansion in the WAVE bioreactor of clinical scale cells for tumor immunotherapy

“…Batch cultivation of mammalian, insect, and plant cells have been reported in WAVE Bioreactors. 36,37 In this article, we have compared the WAVE bioreactor with static cultivation and summarized the implementation scheme used in both cultivation methods.…”