Why is the purity of Chlorella essential?
The Chlorella consumed must be absolutely pure. The micro-alga Chlorella will start by cleaning its environment, which will be first of all its culture medium. It will instantly fix the heavy metals present in its environment and keep them trapped by its membrane.
Chlorella has a hyper affinity with heavy metals and pesticides. For several years, it has been the subject of studies aimed at using the whole Chlorella cell as a biosensor capable of detecting almost instantaneously infinitesimal quantities of heavy metals, such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic… and various pesticides, in order to control and monitor water quality.
This work is under study but has already given rise to several publications:
- – Chouteau C.and col, “Development of novel conductometric biosensors based on immobilised whole cell Chlorella vulgaris microalgae, Biosensors and bioelectronics” 1089 – 1096 19 (2004)
- – Chouteau and col. “A bi-enzimatic whole cell conductimetric biosensor for heavy metal ions and pesticides detection in water samples” Biosensors and Bioelectronics 273-281 21 (2005)
- – Durrieu C. and col, Algal biosensors for aquatic ecosystems monitoring, Eur. Phys. J. Appli. Phys. 36, 205-209 (2006)
Chlorella and Biosensor” publications
- – PhD thesis INSA Lyon of Céline Chouteau 2004 “Development of a bi-enzymatic conductimetric biosensor with algal cells”.