Utilization of tofu wastewater as a cultivation medium for Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis

Abstract

Tofu is one of favourite daily meal in Indonesia. It is produced freshly in some small to large-scale industries, and generates a large volume of wastewater. Generally, untreated wastewater from tofu industries in Indonesia is still directly disposed to the environment that can cause severe pollution in water resources. Tofu wastewater contains very high organic compounds and nutrients, but it has an acidic pH. The possibility of utilizing tofu wastewater as a cultivation medium for microalgae is intriguing. The objective of this research was to utilize tofu wastewater as a cultivation medium for Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis. Cultivation of microalgae was conducted for ten days using 3, 5, and 10 % of diluted tofu wastewater. For comparison, the tofu wastewater anaerobic digestion effluent (TW-ADE) was used as the medium. Walne medium was used as a positive control, and distilled water was used as a negative control. Both microalgae showed the highest biomass and protein production was in Walne medium (positive control), followed in 5% tofu wastewater medium for C. vulgaris, and 3 % tofu wastewater medium for A. platensis. The highest chlorophylls content of C. vulgaris and A. platensis was in 5 % tofu wastewater and Walne medium, respectively. The most top carotenoid content of C. vulgaris and A. platensis was in 5 % and 10 % tofu wastewater medium, respectively. On the other hand, biomass, chlorophylls, carotenoids, and protein content of both microalgae in TW-ADE medium had the lowest result. Cultivation of C. vulgaris and A. platensis in tofu waste medium offer a wide range of environmental and economic benefits, as a sustainable strategy to treat wastewater and produce high-value products from microalgae.

Microalgal Systems for Wastewater Treatment: Technological Trends and Challenges towards Waste Recovery

“…Pigments, which include chlorophylls, carotenoids, and phycobilins, play a very important role in the cell, as they are used in the process of photosynthesis and possess photoprotection properties against saturating light [144][145][146][147]. They are mainly used as food colorants and vitamins for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries [148,149]. Chlorophyllins, which are derivatives of chlorophyll in which the magnesium is replaced by sodium or copper, have been used as valuable natural colorants, as they are safer than their synthetic counterparts, and as dietary supplements, because of their anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anticarcinogenic activities [150].…”

“…Carotenoids have an important role in human nutrition, as they are precursors for vitamin A and powerful and efficient antioxidants [149]. Because of their photoprotective action, they are used as food and feed additives [148]. They exhibit antioxidant, antiaging, and anti-inflammatory activities, and they can display immunostimulating properties and contribute to the prevention of diabetes, cardiac, and cancer diseases [148][149][150].…”

“…Because of their photoprotective action, they are used as food and feed additives [148]. They exhibit antioxidant, antiaging, and anti-inflammatory activities, and they can display immunostimulating properties and contribute to the prevention of diabetes, cardiac, and cancer diseases [148][149][150]. Haematococcus pluvialis astaxanthin [135], Dunaliella salina β-carotene [149], Haloferax alexandrinus canthaxanthin [145], Muriellopsis sp.…”

“…Ultimately, this results in an increase in demand for natural carotenoids, driving major efforts to improve their production from biological sources. Ajijah et al [148] studied tofu wastewater treatment by Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis and observed that the microalgae growing in a medium of 10% wastewater yielded 72.2 mg/L of carotenoids after a 10-day incubation.…”

Growth pattern of Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira platensis using CO2 in biogas from anaerobic digestion of tofu wastewater: A preliminary study

“…Generally, microalgae refer to a group of unicellular or simple multicellular photosynthetic organisms that can fixate CO2 effectively, ten to fifty times greater than terrestrial plants. Recently, many kinds of research have focused on microalgae cultivation because of its high energy conversion efficiency of sunlight, high growth rate, and treatment of wastewater [9].…”