Cyanobacterial Growth in Minimally Amended Anaerobic Digestion Effluent and Flue-Gas
2019
Talita Beyl | Tobias M. Louw | Robert W. M. Pott
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an important industrial process, particularly in a biorefinery approach. The liquid effluent and carbon dioxide in the off-gas, can be used to produce high-value products through the cultivation of cyanobacteria. Growth on AD effluent is often limited due to substrate limitation or inhibitory compounds. This study demonstrates the successful cultivation of <i>Synechococcus</i> on minimally amended AD effluent, supplemented with MgSO<sub>4</sub> and diluted with seawater. An 8 L airlift reactor illustrated growth in a pilot scale setup. Higher biomass yields were observed for cyanobacteria grown in diluted AD effluent compared to minimal medium, with 60% total nitrogen removal in the effluent. It was demonstrated that controlling the pH, increasing dissolved salt concentrations and adding MgSO<sub>4</sub> to the effluent allowed for the successful cultivation of the cyanobacterium, circumventing the addition of clean water for effluent dilution. This could ultimately increase the feasibility of anaerobic digestion-microalgae integrated biorefineries.
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