Assessment of Chlorella sorokiniana Growth in Anaerobic Digester Effluent

Microalgae are considered a potential source of valuable compounds for multiple purposes and are potential agents for bioremediation of aquatic environments contaminated with different pollutants. This work evaluates the use of agricultural waste, unsterilized and anaerobically digested, to produce biomass from a strain of Chlorella sorokiniana. Furthermore, the presence of bacteria in these wastes was investigated based on the bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed a specific growth rate ranging between 0.82 and 1.45 day(−1), while the final biomass yield in different digestate-containing treatments (bacterial-contaminated cultures) ranged between 0.33 and 0.50 g L(−1) day(−1). Besides, substantial amounts of ammonium, phosphate, and sulfate were consumed by C. sorokiniana during the experimental period. The predominant bacteria that grew in the presence of C. sorokiniana in the effluent-containing treatments belonged to the genera Chryseobacterium, Flavobacterium, Sphingomonas, Brevundimonas, Hydrogenophaga, Sphingobacterium, and Pseudomonas. Therefore, this microalga can tolerate and grow in the presence of other microorganisms. Finally, these results show that anaerobically digested agricultural waste materials are a good substitute for growth media for green microalgae; however, phosphate and sulfate levels must also be controlled in the media to maintain adequate growth of microalgae.