Nannochloropsis oculata D. microalgae growth in a treated effluent from superintensive shrimp cultivation

Abstract

The use of microalgae biomass in order to obtain lipids is an important alternative to be studied and it has great potential to be applied in order to produce food and biofuel, for instance. However, there are some processes of its production which need further study, such as the cultivation inputs. A possibility for an alternative raw material is the effluent from superintensive shrimp cultivation with bioflocs (BF). Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the productivity and nutrient removal rate of Nannochloropsis oculata cultivation in three systems: (i) f/2 - produced integrally with chemical fertilizers, (ii) BF - using of 100% of the effluent for superintensive shrimp cultivation with bioflocs and (iii) 50/50 – using 50% of shrimp cultivation effluents and 50% from f/2 system. The microalgae presented greater biomass growth and productitvity in BF system but less lipids and esters accumulation. Concerning nutrient removal, f/2 system showed better performance, which may indicate that the cultivation in BF systems takes longer to reach the stationary growth phase.

Keywords

• Microalgae cultivation. Nannochloropsis oculata. Superintensive shrimp cultivation. Bioflocs