Cultivation of Spirulina maxima in medium supplemented with sugarcane vinasse

• Published in: Bioresource technology 2016-03, Vol.204, p.38-48
• Main Authors: dos Santos, Raquel Rezende, Araújo, Ofélia de Queiroz Fernandes, de Medeiros, José Luiz, Chaloub, Ricardo Moreira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biochemical composition; Biomass; Bioreactors; Culture Media; Cyclic two-stage cultivation; Industrial Waste; Light; Microalgae - growth & development; Microalgae cultivation; Saccharum - chemistry; Spirulina - growth & development; Spirulina maxima; Sugarcane vinasse; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.12.077

[Display omitted] •Microalgae is a potential alternative for biologic treatment of sugarcane vinasse.•Sugarcane vinasse is an organic carbon source for Spirulina maxima.•Spirulina maxima grow under autotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic conditions.•Cyclic light-autotrophic/dark-heterotrophic strategy increases biomass productivity.•Protein content in Spirulina maxima is appropriate for human and animal nutrition. The feasibility of sugarcane vinasse as supplement in growth medium of Spirulina maxima was investigated. The cell was cultivated under autotrophic (no vinasse, 70μmolphotonsm−2s−1), heterotrophic (no light, culture medium supplemented with vinasse at 0.1% v/v and 1.0% v/v) and mixotrophic conditions (70μmolphotonsm−2s−1, vinasse at 0.1% v/v and 1.0% v/v). These preliminary results suggested a cyclic two-stage cultivation – CTSC, with autotrophic condition during light phase of the photoperiod (12h, 70–200μmolphotonsm−2s−1) and heterotrophic condition during dark phase (12h, 3.0% v/v vinasse). The adopted CTSC strategy consisted in three cycles with 75% withdrawal of suspension and reposition of medium containing 3.0% v/v vinasse, separated by autotrophic rest periods of few days between cycles. Results show an increase of biomass concentration between 0.495gL−1 and 0.609gL−1 at the 7th day of each cycle and high protein content (between 74.3% and 77.3% w/w).