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Wastewater from the demineralization of cheese whey for cost-efficient cultivation of spirulina

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Abstract

Worldwide, there is growing interest in achieving a meaningful use of natural resources, as epitomized in this work, which demonstrates the use of saline wastewater (WW) from the demineralization of cheese whey as the main component of a medium for cultivation of spirulina (Limnospira maxima). Based on Zarrouk medium and the fundamental composition of spirulina biomass, a novel cultivation medium for photoautotrophic cultivation of spirulina was developed. The wastewater medium (WWM) consisted of WW supplemented with NaHCO3, urea, K2HPO4, and FeSO4. The suitability of WWM was evaluated by comparison of spirulina growth in laboratory scale tubular or gas-lift photobioreactors in WWM and Zarrouk medium (ZM). The maximum biomass productivity of 0.36 g L−1 day−1 was achieved in WWM, compared with 0.24 g L−1 day−1 in ZM. The cost of WWM was less than 50% of the cost of ZM.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic through project QK1910300 and institutional support MZE-RO1918.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Technicka 5, Prague 6, 166 28, Czech Republic

    Simona Lucakova & Tomas Branyik

  2. Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Rozvojova 135, Prague 6, 165 02, Czech Republic

    Simona Lucakova & Irena Branyikova

  3. Research Institute of Brewing and Malting, Lipova 15, Prague 2, 120 44, Czech Republic

    Dagmar Matoulkova

  4. Department of Microbiology and Technology, Dairy Research Institute Ltd, Ke Dvoru 12a, Praha 6, 160 00, Czech Republic

    Gabriela Krausova

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  1. Simona Lucakova
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  2. Irena Branyikova
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  5. Gabriela Krausova
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Correspondence to Irena Branyikova.

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Lucakova, S., Branyikova, I., Branyik, T. et al. Wastewater from the demineralization of cheese whey for cost-efficient cultivation of spirulina. J Appl Phycol 34, 89–99 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-021-02644-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-021-02644-4

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