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
Néstor A. Urbina-Suarez, Darly D. Ayala-González, Jennyfer D. Rivera-Amaya, Andrés F. Barajas-Solano, Fiderman Machuca‐Martínez
Abstract
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.