Micro hydrogel tubes for culture of oil production microbes in an open environment

K. Mikami, H. Onoe, N. Miki

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper proposes a microbe culture technology in an open environment using hydrogel microtubes. Oil production microbes, such as Aurantiochytrium, have been discovered and are currently studied to produce fuels instead of fossil fuels. Scale-up of the culture systems of such microbes is critical for practical applications. The microbe culture in a nutrition-rich open environment, such as lakes and sewage plants, is preferable in terms of scales and cost, however, contamination of other native microbes is often fatal to the target microbes. Hydrogel microtubes that can be manufactured by microfluidic devices can encapsulate the microbes and allow oxygen and nutrition to diffuse through the tube walls while preventing other microbes from intruding inside. Therefore, the microbes can be cultured in any environments and scale-up is also possible. In this paper, we demonstrate that the contamination of microbes was prevented and target microbes were successfully cultured inside the microtube.

Original languageEnglish
Article number012054
JournalJournal of Physics: Conference Series
Volume557
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Event14th International Conference on Micro- and Nano-Technology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, PowerMEMS 2014 - Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan
Duration: 2014 Nov 182014 Nov 21

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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