Cultivation of the Acidophilic Microalgae Galdieria phlegrea with Wastewater: Process Yields

Maria Rosa di Cicco, Maria Palmieri, Simona Altieri, Claudia Ciniglia and Carmine Lubritto
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Maria Rosa di Cicco: Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Maria Palmieri: Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Simona Altieri: Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Claudia Ciniglia: Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Carmine Lubritto: Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Algal based wastewater treatment offers the opportunity to recover, in the form of biomass, the nutrients and internal chemical energy of wastewater. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of extremophilic microalgae, as they can easily adapt to difficult and often pollutant-rich environments. The thermo-acidophilic microalga Galdieria phlegrea is a species of recent discovery and great metabolic versatility, but it has still been poorly studied. Here, G. phlegrea was cultivated using raw municipal wastewater in 1 L Erlenmeyer flasks with 700 mL working volume at 37 °C for up to nine days. During the cultivation phase, biomass growth, phycocyanin content, ammonium and phosphate removal from the wastewater, lipid fraction, total carbon and nitrogen in the biomass, and variation in ? 13 C and ? 15 N isotopic ratios (a novel analytical contribution in these experiments) were monitored. Results indicated that G. phlegrea was able to grow in raw effluent, where it removed more than 50% ammonium and 20% phosphate in 24 h; total lipid content was in the range of 11–22%, while average C-N content was of 45% and 6%, respectively; isotopic analyses proved to be a useful support in identifying C and N metabolic pathways from effluent to biomass. Overall, G. phlegrea showed consistent performance with similar Cyanidiophyceae and is a potentially viable candidate for municipal wastewater valorization from a circular economy perspective.

Keywords: bioremediation; Galdieria; biomass yield; isotopic ratio; lipid; nutrient removal; urban wastewater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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