2.3. Culture conditions
Alginate fermentation and lipid production were conducted sequentially (Fig. 1). All instruments and reactors for lipid production were steam autoclaved before use. All batch tests were conducted in triplicate.
For VFA production from alginate, a 1.5-L fermentor (Biotron LiFlus GR) containing 1 L alginate feedstock (Section 2.1) was seeded with 10% (v/v) inoculum derived from the CSTR effluents, then purged using N 2 gas for 10 min. pH was controlled at 7 by an automatic pH controller (Model KB-250, K&B). Temperature was maintained at 35°C and the fermentor was stirred continu-ously at 400 rpm.