Biomass and phycocyanin production from cyanobacteria dominated biofilm reactors cultured using oilfield and natural gas extraction produced water

The production of cyanobacterial biofilm biomass and phycocyanin from Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors utilizing undiluted produced water from oil and natural gas extraction as a medium was demonstrated in this study. Oil and natural gas extraction produced water is the largest waste stream generated by these industries and may provide an abundant source of non potable water for the culture of cyanobacteria and phycocyanin. In the present study, a unialgal cyanobacteria isolate from the Logan City, Utah Wastewater Treatment Facility was shown to exhibit an areal ash free dry weight biomass productivity of 4.8 ± 0.7 g/m2-day when cultured in produced water medium. The cyanobacterial biofilms yielded an areal phycocyanin productivity of 84.6 ± 9.3 mg/m2-day with a maximum crude extract purity of 0.23 ± 0.03. The utilization of produced water for the production of cyanobacterial biofilm biomass and associated high value products could provide significant economic and bioremedial advantages to current produced water disposal technologies.