Optimization of the Cultivation Conditions of the Green Algae Dunaliella salina by Using Simplex Method

Abstract

The green algae Dunaliella salina offers great potential for the food industry due to its high β-carotene content. To guarantee the economic profitability of cultivation, growth conditions must be improved. Therefore, the effects of pH and salinity on the cultivation of the green alga D. salina were investigated and optimized. The simplex method was applied to find the optimum of these two parameters to maximize the biomass and the cell number of D. salina. The optimum pH was found at 7 and 8 at a salt content of 50 g/L, with a biomass content of 1.09 and 1.11 g/L, respectively. The highest biomass was found at a salinity of 50 g/L, with a final biomass of 1.11 g/L. However, by using the simplex method, an optimum product yield was found at a salinity of 64 g/L and an initial pH value of 7.2. Thus, a biomass of 1.23 mg/mL was achieved. In the single observation of both parameters, 14 experiments were conducted to obtain a satisfactory result, whereas eight runs only were required with the simplex method. This leads to the conclusion that using the simplex method is a useful way to drastically reduce the number of required experiments.

Economic–Financial Assessment of Seawater Desalination Plants in Northern Chile to Reduce Hydric Scarcity and a Proposal for the Environmental and Sustainable Use of Brine Waste by Cultivating the Microalga Dunaliella salina to Produce β-Carotene

“…The green microalga Dunaliella salina, in order to produce large amounts of the pigment β-carotene, needs to be in a highly saline environment such as the brine that is discarded from desalination plants. Cultures are already carried out using flat plate photo bioreactors [113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127][128]. Sustainable management could be realized with the production of β-carotene from microalgae, with high added value in the field of the circular bio economy.…”