Presenter: Amanda Moravek
Authors: Amanda Moravek
Faculty Advisor: Charles Miller
Institution: Utah State University
Microalgae are incredible organisms that have a variety of uses such as wastewater treatment, bioplastics, biofuels, and biohydrogen production. Microalgae require a light source, minimal nutrients, and minimal space to grow rapidly, making them a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable option for such processes. The USU Sustainable Wastes to Bioproducts Engineering Center (SWBEC) is implementing Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors (RABRs) to harness the power of algae for removing harmful compounds such as nitrates and phosphates from wastewater. These RABRs are to be up-scaled and implemented into the Central Valley Wastewater Reclamation Facility (CVWRF). It is expected that the human waste flowing into the CVWRF will increase as the human population increases in the valley. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the efficiency of the RABRs to deal with the increase in human waste. Additionally, the microalgae being used to treat wastewater can be harvested to produce valuable products such as bioplastics and biofuels. One approach to increase the efficiency of the RABRs is to increase the growth of the key algal players in the RABR biofilms, but these players have not yet been identified. The purpose of this study is to implement genetic characterization methods to determine the RABR biofilm microbial communities to identify key algal constituents. 16S, 18S, 23S, and WGS metagenomic analyses are being used to identify these microalgae. Initial results utilizing 16S sequencing identified the algae Phormidium, Chroococcales, Chlorophyta, and stramenopiles. Phormidium, Chroococcales, and Chlorophyta algae have been shown to excel in wastewater treatment, and stramenopiles such as diatoms are important for biofilm health and biofuel production. The identification of these algae indicate promising initial results for the characterization of RABR microalgal biofilms.