Growth Performance, Biochemical Composition and Nutrient Recovery Ability of Twelve Microalgae Consortia Isolated from Various Local Organic Wastes Grown on Nano-Filtered Pig Slurry
Min Su,
Marta Dell’Orto,
Barbara Scaglia,
Giuliana D’Imporzano,
Alessia Bani,
Fabrizio Adani
Affiliations
Min Su
Gruppo Ricicla Lab., Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali—Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia (DiSAA), Università degli studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
Marta Dell’Orto
Gruppo Ricicla Lab., Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali—Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia (DiSAA), Università degli studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
Barbara Scaglia
Gruppo Ricicla Lab., Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali—Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia (DiSAA), Università degli studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
Giuliana D’Imporzano
Gruppo Ricicla Lab., Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali—Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia (DiSAA), Università degli studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
Alessia Bani
School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK
Fabrizio Adani
Gruppo Ricicla Lab., Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali—Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia (DiSAA), Università degli studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
This paper demonstrated the growth ability of twelve algae-microbial consortia (AC) isolated from organic wastes when a pig slurry-derived wastewater (NFP) was used as growth substrate in autotrophic cultivation. Nutrient recovery, biochemical composition, fatty acid and amino acid profiles of algae consortia were evaluated and compared. Three algae-microbial consortia, i.e., a Chlorella-dominated consortium (AC_1), a Tetradesmus and Synechocystis co-dominated consortium (AC_10), and a Chlorella and Tetradesmus co-dominated consortium (AC_12) were found to have the best growth rates (µ of 0.55 ± 0.04, 0.52 ± 0.06, and 0.58 ± 0.03 d−1, respectively), which made them good candidates for further applications. The ACs showed high carbohydrates and lipid contents but low contents of both proteins and essential amino acids, probably because of the low N concentration of NFP. AC_1 and AC_12 showed optimal ω6:ω3 ratios of 3.1 and 3.6, which make them interesting from a nutritional point of view.