초록
<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>In this study, a novel method was proposed for the biological pretreatment of macroalgae (<I>Laminaria japonica</I>, <I>Pachymeniopsis elliptica</I>, and <I>Enteromorpha crinita</I>) for production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) by anaerobic fermentation. The amount of VFA produced from 40g/L of <I>L. japonica</I> increased from 8.3g/L (control) to 15.6g/L when it was biologically pretreated with <I>Vibrio harveyi</I>. The biological treatment of <I>L. japonica</I> with <I>Vibrio</I> spp<I>.</I> was most effective likely due to the alginate lyase activity of <I>Vibrio</I> spp. However, a considerable effect was also observed after biological pretreatment of <I>P. elliptica</I> and <I>E. crinita</I>, which are red and green algae, respectively. Alkaline pretreatment of 40g/L of <I>L. japonica</I> with 0.5N NaOH resulted in an increase of VFA production to 12.2g/L. These results indicate that VFA production from macroalgae can be significantly enhanced using the proposed biological pretreatments.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> The VFA production from macroalgae was enhanced by a biological pretreatment. </LI> <LI> The VFA production increased upto 90% by the pretreatment with <I>Vibrio</I> spp. </LI> <LI> The VFA concentration of 15.6g/L was obtained from 40g/L of <I>Laminaria japonica</I>. </LI> <LI> The pretreatment affected the VFAs composition. </LI> </UL> </P>