MARENNINE PRODUCTION BY AGAR-ENTRAPPED HASLEA-OSTREARIA SIMONSEN

The pennate Diatom Haslea ostrearia was successfully immobilized in ag ar-gel disks and tested for marennine production in batch experiments. The concentration of pigment recovered varied between 34 and 92 mg l( -1) liquid medium, according to the initial cell loading of the gel st ructures, which corresponded to volumetric production rates between 15 and 50 mg day(-1) l(-1) gel. Average specific productivities of immob ilized cells were higher than those of free cells. Immobilized-cell pr eparations could be used three times (working time > 1000 h) without s ignificant loss in production efficiency. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.