Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae
Microalgae cultivation could contribute to the achievement of several sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, cultivating Chlorella vulgaris, like any other microalgae, is challenging due to various biotic, abiotic and process related factors that can affect its growth and biomass productivit...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023104464 |
| _version_ | 1827367292095168512 |
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| author | Tamás Magyar Bence Németh János Tamás Péter Tamás Nagy |
| author_facet | Tamás Magyar Bence Németh János Tamás Péter Tamás Nagy |
| author_sort | Tamás Magyar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Microalgae cultivation could contribute to the achievement of several sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, cultivating Chlorella vulgaris, like any other microalgae, is challenging due to various biotic, abiotic and process related factors that can affect its growth and biomass productivity. Nutrient availability, particularly N and P, and their ratio play a crucial role in building cellular structures and maintaining metabolic processes, determining basically the maximum achievable biomass productivity under given circumstances. The present article aims to improve the N and P ratio to enhance the biomass productivity of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae as well as to characterize the biomass growth kinetics that can be used for prediction purposes. The results showed that the nutrient solutions prepared with increased nitrate concentration (T1 – N:P = 55:1 and T3 – N:P = 28:1) promoted chlorophyll formation and significantly outperformed the control sample (BG-11 – N:P = 35:1) with 192% and 183%, leading to higher biomass productivity with 1160 μg L−1 and 1103 μg L−1, respectively. Moreover, a strong positive correlation was revealed (0.81) between phosphate concentration and microalgae activity rate, indicating the role of phosphorous in energy transfer, resulted in stimulated microalgae activity rates with 71.2% and 70.66% in the phosphate-increased nutrient solutions (T2 – N:P = 14:1 and T3 – N:P = 28:1). In addition, an exponential equation was introduced to characterize the biomass growth kinetics, of which the theoretically achievable maximum chlorophyll concentration (CTAM) and the theoretical cultivation time (tcultivation) were determined for the tested nutrient solutions with variable N:P ratio. It was concluded, that the higher the N:P ratio, the higher the CTAM is, nevertheless the absolute concentration of these nutrients need to be considered as well. The introduced two key parameters could provide valuable information for decision makers regarding the optimization of growth conditions, nutrient supplementation, and harvesting, additionally decreasing the production costs and making the cultivation cycles more effective and sustainable. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:03:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e0b660b03c647a18b60590da1fdd105 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:03:33Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e0b660b03c647a18b60590da1fdd1052024-02-01T06:31:12ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402024-01-01101e23238Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgaeTamás Magyar0Bence Németh1János Tamás2Péter Tamás Nagy3Institute of Water and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, Hungary; National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Safety, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, Hungary; Corresponding author. Institute of Water and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, Hungary.Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Debrecen, Ótemető str. 2-4., 4032, Debrecen, HungaryInstitute of Water and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, Hungary; National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Safety, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, HungaryInstitute of Water and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, Hungary; National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Safety, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 146B Böszörményi str., 4032, Debrecen, HungaryMicroalgae cultivation could contribute to the achievement of several sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, cultivating Chlorella vulgaris, like any other microalgae, is challenging due to various biotic, abiotic and process related factors that can affect its growth and biomass productivity. Nutrient availability, particularly N and P, and their ratio play a crucial role in building cellular structures and maintaining metabolic processes, determining basically the maximum achievable biomass productivity under given circumstances. The present article aims to improve the N and P ratio to enhance the biomass productivity of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae as well as to characterize the biomass growth kinetics that can be used for prediction purposes. The results showed that the nutrient solutions prepared with increased nitrate concentration (T1 – N:P = 55:1 and T3 – N:P = 28:1) promoted chlorophyll formation and significantly outperformed the control sample (BG-11 – N:P = 35:1) with 192% and 183%, leading to higher biomass productivity with 1160 μg L−1 and 1103 μg L−1, respectively. Moreover, a strong positive correlation was revealed (0.81) between phosphate concentration and microalgae activity rate, indicating the role of phosphorous in energy transfer, resulted in stimulated microalgae activity rates with 71.2% and 70.66% in the phosphate-increased nutrient solutions (T2 – N:P = 14:1 and T3 – N:P = 28:1). In addition, an exponential equation was introduced to characterize the biomass growth kinetics, of which the theoretically achievable maximum chlorophyll concentration (CTAM) and the theoretical cultivation time (tcultivation) were determined for the tested nutrient solutions with variable N:P ratio. It was concluded, that the higher the N:P ratio, the higher the CTAM is, nevertheless the absolute concentration of these nutrients need to be considered as well. The introduced two key parameters could provide valuable information for decision makers regarding the optimization of growth conditions, nutrient supplementation, and harvesting, additionally decreasing the production costs and making the cultivation cycles more effective and sustainable.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023104464SustainabilityMicroalgaeBiomass productivityGrowth predictionN:P ratio |
| spellingShingle | Tamás Magyar Bence Németh János Tamás Péter Tamás Nagy Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae Heliyon Sustainability Microalgae Biomass productivity Growth prediction N:P ratio |
| title | Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae |
| title_full | Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae |
| title_fullStr | Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae |
| title_short | Improvement of N and P ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae |
| title_sort | improvement of n and p ratio for enhanced biomass productivity and sustainable cultivation of chlorella vulgaris microalgae |
| topic | Sustainability Microalgae Biomass productivity Growth prediction N:P ratio |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023104464 |
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