Sustainable Cultivation of Desmodesmus armatus SAG276.4d using Leachate as a Growth Supplement for Simultaneous Biomass Production and CO2 Fixation

Abstract

Microalgae cultivation has been identified to be highly beneficial for the production of valuable biomass. The recent worldwide interest is to cultivate microalgae in wastewater to replace the use of expensive commercial media. Microalgae can utilize nutrients from the wastewater for their biomass growth, which is useful as feedstock in many products. Interestingly, microalgae cultivation is also capable of reducing a greenhouse gas due to absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) during photosynthesis. This study was conducted to study the growth of microalgae using leachate as a nutrient supplement. The scope of the research involved the cultivation of freshwater microalgae, Desmodesmus armatus, in the synthetics medium with various percentages of leachate under different light exposures. The growth parameters such as the specific growth rate, biomass productivity, and cell division time were used to evaluate the microalgae growth performance. The amount of CO2 absorbed during the cultivation was determined based on the total biomass production. The highest growth rate of 0.423/day was achieved using a 5% leachate medium under 12 h light duration, and the highest carbon fixation of 1.317 g CO2/L/day was calculated using a culture supplemented with 5% leachate with 24 h light period. The high presence of nutrients in the leachate has contributed to the growth of the microalgae; thus, it has great potential as an alternative growth medium to support biomass production and subsequently help to mitigate global warming.

Microalgae Photobioreactor for Carbon Dioxide Fixation and Production of Biofuel Feedstock

“…were cultivated in horizontal photobioreactors with volume of 42.8 and 7.2 L, respectively. Whereas Fuad et al [20] cultivated Desmodesmus armatus in 1L photobioreactor. The height of the photobioreactor used in this study (160 cm) might increase the residence time of CO2 in photobioreactor so that higher value of fixation rate was observed.…”

Description of Some Microalgae Isolates Captured from Sumatra Island, Indonesia

“…The classification of microalgae which found in several waters consist of Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, and Chrysophyceae [1]. They are the best primary producers of water that can be discovered in various ecosystems of the earth, growing in all environmental conditions and have recently become the object of considerable attention in many countries because of their potential in various fields of application [2]. Microalgae biomass could be utilized in two categories, such as for biofuel [3] and 1191 (2023) 012014 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1191/1/012014 2 food nutrition [4].…”

Study on the Potential for Biodiesel Production of Microalgal Consortia from Brackish Water Environment in Rayong Province, Thailand

“…Microalgae are photoautotrophic microorganisms that include prokaryotic and eukaryotic species. They have (1) higher bio-oil productivity than other forms of oil crops; (2) higher photosynthetic efficiency than terrestrial plants; (3) potentiality to grow in a wide range of environments like brackish or saline water, and wastewater from various sources including urban, agricultural, and industrial effluents; and (4) potentiality to utilize industrial exhaust gasses as a carbon source (Chisti 2007;Chankhong et al 2018;Fuad et al 2021).…”