Experimental mixture design for the recovery of residues from the food industry in the cultivation of Scenedesmus acutus

Abstract

Nejayote and food leachate are highly polluting 
effluents and a source of important organic matter load that is 
sometimes released into bodies of water such as rivers or lakes, 
soils or public sewers. Both residues are considered to cause 
pollution, which is why urgent measures are required. The 
objective of this research was to determine the optimal 
combination of nejayote and food leachate to be used as a 
culture medium for the microalgae Scenedesmus acutus. The 
initial concentration of this microalgae was 0.5 g/L, the 
experiments lasted 20 days and the treatments had 
concentrations of 0, 10, 25, 50 and 90% of nejayote, food 
leachate and Bold medium. In the experiments, a biomass 
concentration higher than 6 g/L was achieved, an uptake of 
ammonium and orthophosphates up to 83 and 89 respectively. 
These results show that microalgae can be used to treat this type 
of liquid waste and, at the same time, used as a culture medium 
for microalgae. The resulting biomass can be used additionally 
to obtain other by-products of commercial interest.