Cultivation of Spirulina platensis for biomass production and nutrient removal from synthetic human urine

► Synthetic human urine was used as nutrients for cultivation of Spirulina platensis. ► The ammonia nitrogen and phosphate in human urine were directly utilized. ► Addition of organic carbon greatly stimulated microalgae growth. ► The mixotrophic grown biomass showed an increase in the content of pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied energy 2013-02, Vol.102, p.427-431
Main Authors: Chang, Yuanyuan, Wu, Zucheng, Bian, Lei, Feng, Daolun, Leung, Dennis Y.C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ammonium nitrogen
Applied sciences
biofuels
Biomass
biomass production
Carbon
Cultivation
Culture
culture media
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
glucose
Human
Human urine
humans
liquefaction
microalgae
Natural energy
Nutrient removal
Nutrients
phosphorus
protein content
sodium acetate
Spirulina platensis
urea
Urine
Waste water
wastewater
wastewater treatment
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Summary:► Synthetic human urine was used as nutrients for cultivation of Spirulina platensis. ► The ammonia nitrogen and phosphate in human urine were directly utilized. ► Addition of organic carbon greatly stimulated microalgae growth. ► The mixotrophic grown biomass showed an increase in the content of protein. ► The biomass obtained can be possibly served as a potential biofuel feedstock. Microalgae have long been recognized as having the potential to provide a better source of biofuel. In this study, Spirulina platensis was cultivated in human urine to couple wastewater treatment with biomass production. The characteristics of microalgae growth under autotrophic and mixotrophic (adding glucose or sodium acetate to the urine) conditions, wastewater nutrient removal and biomass quality were examined. After 7days, 97% of NH4+-N, 96.5% of total phosphorus (TP) and 85–98% of urea in the urine (ca. 120-diluted) were removed by the microalgae under autotrophic culture (30°C). The addition of organic carbon was found to greatly stimulate the microalgae growth. More important, the mixotrophic grown biomass showed an increase in the content of protein, which could be converted into biocrude oil via hydrothermal liquefaction. This study suggested that it might be possible to replace a common culture medium with human urine to produce S. platensis.
ISSN:0306-2619
1872-9118
DOI:10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.07.024