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Chlorella vulgaris biomass production using brewery wastewater with high chemical oxygen demand

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Abstract

The aim of the work was to use an effluent with high chemical oxygen demand (COD) from small brewery as substrate for the production of Chlorella vulgaris biomass. A non-axenic strain from a Patagonian river was employed, and the effects of COD and pH value on the microalga growth were studied through a central composite design. A medium with COD 18300 mg O2 mL−1 and initial pH: 6.5 optimized microalga growth. With the optimal condition, C. vulgaris adapted rapidly to medium and stationary phase was attained at 75 h. Moreover, lack of illumination did not affect μmax, neither final biomass concentration, while supplementation with BG11 enhanced the biomass productivity at 0.47 ± 0.07 g L−1 h−1, and pigment contents at least four times respect to the heterotrophic mode. For the first time, a brewery wastewater with high COD could be successfully used as substrate for C. vulgaris production, without presenting inhibitions, which represents a significant advance contributing toward more sustainable promising perspectives.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to acknowledge the Microalgae Laboratory of Universidad Nacional Patagónica San Juan Bosco for supplying the C. vulgaris strain, Juguetes Perdidos brewery for supplying the effluent and Montserrat Vivas for improving the written English style.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the University Technological National, Program “Co-funded Postgraduate Scholarships for the Training of Doctors in Priority Areas”, Faculty Regional Buenos Aires (Project ID: IPUTIBA0004740TC); and ERANet-LAC - ELAC2014/BEE-0357 (GREENBIOREFINERY: Processing of brewery wastes with microalgae for producing valuable compounds).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Tecnologías Químicas, Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad Regional Buenos Aires (FRBA), Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Julieta Lois-Milevicich, Nahuel Casá, Paola Alvarez, Ricardo Mateucci, Víctor Busto & Marina de Escalada Pla

  2. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, (NANOBIOTEC – UBA/CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Víctor Busto

  3. Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos y Procesos Químicos, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, (ITAPROQ-UBA/CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marina de Escalada Pla

  4. Departamento de Industrias, FCEN, UBA, Ciudad Universitaria, 1482, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marina de Escalada Pla

Authors
  1. Julieta Lois-Milevicich
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  2. Nahuel Casá
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  3. Paola Alvarez
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  4. Ricardo Mateucci
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  5. Víctor Busto
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  6. Marina de Escalada Pla
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Contributions

JLM: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, and writing—original draft; NC: formal analysis and investigation; PA: methodology, investigation, and resources; RM: methodology, investigation, and resources; VB: project administration and funding acquisition; MEP: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, and writing—review and editing. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marina de Escalada Pla.

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Lois-Milevicich, J., Casá, N., Alvarez, P. et al. Chlorella vulgaris biomass production using brewery wastewater with high chemical oxygen demand. J Appl Phycol 32, 2773–2783 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-020-02163-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-020-02163-8

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