Evaluation of the Light/Dark Cycle and Concentration of Tannery Wastewater in the Production of Biomass and Metabolites of Industrial Interest from Microalgae and Cyanobacteria

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 3; p. 346
• Main Authors: Urbina-Suarez, Néstor A., Ayala-González, Darly D., Rivera-Amaya, Jennyfer D., Barajas-Solano, Andrés F., Machuca-Martínez, Fiderman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2022
• Subjects: Algae; Aquatic microorganisms; Biomass; Carbohydrates; Carbon; Carotenoids; Chemical oxygen demand; Cyanobacteria; Design of experiments; Effluents; Experimental design; Hapalosiphon; Leather; Leather industry; Light; Lipids; Metabolites; Metals; microalgae; Microorganisms; Nitrates; Nitrogen; Organic loading; Phosphates; Phycobiliproteins; Pigments; Pollutants; Pollution load; Production processes; Proteins; Radiation; Response surface methodology; tannery effluents; Tanning; Tanning industry; Textile industry wastewaters; Wastewater; Colombia
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w14030346

The tanning industry transforms animal skins into leather and produces liquid effluents with a high organic and inorganic pollutant load. This work evaluated the effect of the tannery wastewater (TWW) concentration and the light/dark cycle on the production of biomass, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and pigments (carotenoids and phycobiliproteins) on two microalgae (Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp.) and one cyanobacterium (Hapalosiphon sp.). A non-factorial central experimental design with a response surface was implemented using the STATISTICA 7.0 software. High removal percentages for nitrates (97%), phosphates (73.3%), and chemical oxygen demand (93.2%) were achieved with the three strains. The results also highlight that the use of a constant light regime (24:0) and the concentration of real TWW affect the biomass production, since the highest concentration of biomass recorded was 1.31 g L−1 of Hapalosiphon sp. with 100% undiluted wastewater.