Integration of pre-precipitation optimizing performance of culture medium prepared from salvaged cyanobacterial slurry

Abstract

Cyanobacterial slurry is a waste biomass produced in the remediation of eutrophic lakes; it is obtained in large volume and is difficult to treat, but it has the potential to be used as raw material for culture medium for oil-producing microalgae. In this study, three kinds of oil-producing microalgae were tested, including Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus obliquus, and Nannochloropsis oculate. On the basis of the medium preparation method “hydrothermal oxidation + ultrafiltration,” the pre-precipitation phenomenon induced by pH adjustment was implemented to modify the culture medium and improve its performance. Ammonia nitrogen and macromolecules (mainly humic substances) were found to possibly have a joint-influence mechanism upon microalgae. Pre-precipitation changed the nitrogen species distribution in the medium and lowered the concentration of macromolecules, which improved the ability of microalgae to use different forms of nitrogen. This promoted the growth of, and oil production by, the microalgae.