Microalgae cultivation and culture medium recycling by a two-stage cultivation system

Highlights

A two-stage system was designed for microalgae cultivation and nutrients removal.

Two species of microalgae were cultivated for biomass production.

UF costed less than centrifuge for harvesting microalgae at small scale.

100% NH₄⁺ of the wastewater was removed and met discharge requirement.

Abstract

Nutrients and water play an important role in microalgae cultivation. Using wastewater as a culture medium is a promising alternative to recycle nutrients and water, and for further developing microalgae-based products. In the present study, two species of microalgae, Chlorella sp. (high ammonia nitrogen tolerance) and Spirulina platensis (S. platensis, high growth rate), were cultured by using poultry wastewater through a two-stage cultivation system for algal biomass production. Ultrafiltration (UF) or centrifuge was used to harvest Chlorella sp. from the first cultivation stage and to recycle culture medium for S. platensis growth in the second cultivation stage. Results showed the two-stage cultivation system produced high microalgae biomass including 0.39 g·L⁻¹ Chlorella sp. and 3.45 g·L⁻¹ S. platensis in the first-stage and second-stage, respectively. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NH₄⁺ reached 19% and almost 100% in the first and the second stage, respectively. Total phosphorus (TP) removal reached 17% and 83%, and total organic carbon (TOC) removal reached 55% and 72% in the first and the second stage, respectively. UF and centrifuge can recycle 96.8% and 100% water, respectively. This study provides a new method for the combined of pure microalgae cultivation and wastewater treatment with culture medium recycling.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Microalgae harvest / Ultrafiltration / Poultry wastewater / Nutrient removal / Two stage cultivation

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Program of Outstanding Talents and Innovative Research Teams in Agriculture (2011-049), China Agricultural Research System (CARS-40) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51576206). The authors thank the technical and financial support from Minhe Animal Husbandry Incorporated Company. Thanks to Dr. Jiqin Ni (Purdue University) and Dr. Maung Thein Myint (New Mexico State University) for improving the paper. Xinfeng Wang also thanks the China Scholarship Council for financial support of visiting scholar studies in the USA.

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