2.7. Analytical methods
2.7.1. Algae OD and BDW measurements
OD measurements were carried out at 540 nm on a microplate
reader (BioTek Epoch2, BioTek Instrument Inc., Winooski, VT). Algal
BDW concentration was measured by OD and converted to BDW
using a calibration curve (BDW vs. OD). The culture sample was diluted
with culturing medium before OD reading in order to obtain an OD
value of less than 1.0. To determine BDW with known OD, a certain
amount of alga suspension was centrifuged to obtain an alga pellet,
which was washed with DI water for three times to remove residual
medium and dried in an oven at 105 °C for overnight prior to weigh