Attached cultivation for improving the biomass productivity of Spirulina platensis

• Spirulina platensis was successfully cultivated in attached biofilm.
• Electrostatic flocking cloth is a practicable industrial substratum.
• Biomass productivity of 60 g m−2 d−1 was obtained in an outdoor bench.

To improve cultivation efficiency for microalgae Spirulina platensis is related to increase its potential use as food source and as an effective alternative for CO2 fixation. The present work attempted to establish a technique, namely attached cultivation, for S. platensis. Laboratory experiments were made firstly to investigate optimal conditions on attached cultivation. The optimal conditions were found: 25 g m−2 for initial inoculum density using electrostatic flocking cloth as substrata, light intensity lower than 200 μmol m−2 s−1, CO2 enriched air flow (0.5%) at a superficial aeration rate of 0.0056 m s−1 in a NaHCO3-free Zarrouk medium. An outdoor attached cultivation bench-scale bioreactor was built and a 10 d culture of S. platensis was carried out with daily harvesting. A high footprint areal biomass productivity of 60 g m−2 d−1 was obtained. The nutrition of S. platensis with attached cultivation is identical to that with conventional liquid cultivation.

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