Moving towards a realistic application of purple phototrophic bacteria for resource recovery

Abstract

International audiencePurple phototrophic bacteria are receiving increasing attention due to their unique capability of growing photoheterotrophically, using energy from light to simultaneously recover carbon and nutrients in the form of a different value-added products. In this work, PPB-based applications and potential products are reviewed to identify major challenges and opportunities. A comprehensive analysis of data has shown that, despite the potential of this technology, most of the research on PPB applications has been carried out using pure cultures, axenic conditions and artificial illumination. If a real application of this technology is to be developed, research on PPB should be performed using enriched non-axenic cultures and natural light, aiming at producing results that can be extrapolated to economically-feasible, full-scale systems. Amongst the products obtained from PPB, using the biomass as fish feed represents the most profitable approach, with a potential revenue of 1.14 $•kgbiomass-1