title: Microalgae Cultivation on Anaerobic Digestate of Municipal Wastewater, Sewage Sludge and Agro-Waste.
abstract: Microalgae are fast-growing photosynthetic organisms which have the potential to be exploited as an alternative source of liquid fuels to meet growing global energy demand. The cultivation of microalgae, however, still needs to be improved in order to reduce the cost of the biomass produced. Among the major costs encountered for algal cultivation are the costs for nutrients such as CO₂, nitrogen and phosphorous. In this work, therefore, different microalgal strains were cultivated using as nutrient sources three different anaerobic digestates deriving from municipal wastewater, sewage sludge or agro-waste treatment plants. In particular, anaerobic digestates deriving from agro-waste or sewage sludge treatment induced a more than 300% increase in lipid production per volume inChlorella vulgariscultures grown in a closed photobioreactor, and a strong increase in carotenoid accumulation in different microalgae species. Conversely, a digestate originating from a pilot scale anaerobic upflow sludge blanket (UASB) was used to increase biomass production when added to an artificial nutrient-supplemented medium. The results herein demonstrate the possibility of improving biomass accumulation or lipid production using different anaerobic digestates.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università di Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy. zuliani.luca@outlook.com.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zuliani
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università di Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy. nicola.frison@univr.it.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Frison
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università di Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy. alexsandra.jelic@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jelic
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università di Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy. francesco.fatone@univr.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fatone
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università di Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy. david.bolzonella@univr.it.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bolzonella
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università di Verona, Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona, Italy. matteo.ballottari@univr.it.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ballottari
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000032:analysis; D048408:Chlorella vulgaris / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002338:Carotenoids; D002734:Chlorophyll; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater; C037184:chlorophyll b
keywords: anaerobic digestate; biofuels; microalgae; photosynthesis