Evaluation of Growth Yield of Spirulina maxima in Photobioreactors

A. Saeid and K. Chojnacka

Abstract
The paper deals with the evaluation of the parameters for the cultivation of Spirulina maxima in two reactors (large-laboratory scale (LL) and semi-technical scale (ST)), whose illuminated areas in respect of the illuminated volume are different, and with the operating costs. We evaluated the growth yield coefficients for Spirulina maxima cultures. In the LL, the following factors were identified: YO2/X – 65.5; YX/CO2 – 0.0806; YX/P2O5 – 0.0082, while in the ST: YO2/X – 583; YX/CO2 – 0.017; YX/P2O5 – 0.0023. Although the reactor in the ST was equipped with many devices that should have improved the efficiency of cultivation, the obtained result was lower compared to the culture conducted in the LL. It was proved that it was possible to perform the cultivation of Spirulina maxima under temperate climate conditions in simply constructed, low cost reactors.

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Keywords
Spirulina maxima, large-laboratory scale, semi-technical scale, cultivation, nutrient utilization