Production of microalgal biomass using aquaculture wastewater as growth medium

Abstract

Aquaculture wastewater contains a huge amount of substances that can cause environmental pollution. However, microalgae can absorb these compounds and convert them into useful biomass. In this study, Chlorella minutissima was grown in the wastewater resulting from saline aquaculture. The microalgae were found to effectively utilize nitrogen and phosphorus in the wastewater for its growth. During wastewater treatment, the cell density increased almost fivefold compared to the initial value (OD680 0.502). Moreover, batch culture resulted in the maximum biomass concentration and productivity of 4.77 g/L and 0.55 g/L/day, respectively. The contents of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in wastewater decreased by 88% and over 99%, respectively. In addition, the content of N-NO3 was reduced by 88.6%, N-NO2 by 74.3%, and dissolved orthophosphates (V) by 99%. At the beginning and throughout the experiment, the content of N-NH4 in wastewater remained below 0.05 mg/L. Furthermore, a high lipid content of 46.4% (w/w) was also obtained from the studied microalgae.