Determination of Spirulina Growth Kinetics Under Different Nitrogen Feast -Famine Cycle

Abstract

As a result of increasing anthropogenic activities, it is clearly seen that resources are rapidly depleted and nature is much more damaged. Although it is difficult to end these activities, minimizing their effects is a possible solution. In this context, microalgae considered as a natural and sustainable resource. Microalgae have simple cell structures and. their photosynthesis rate is higher than plants. Therefore, they have higher capture capacity than plants. For this reason, microalgae is a promising source for the future, which reduces the greenhouse effect by capturing CO2. Microalgaes come into prominent with their fast growth rate under appropriate operation conditions. However, it have to be mentioned that important factor in which conditions and which media contents are used for cultivation. Microalgaes are able to growth in different media contents but presence or absence of nutrient can directly effect their growth rate. Apart the,essential macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus are playing role for their growth.Nitrogen constitutes more than 10% of the microalgae's structure, and nitrogen is required for many physiological activities of microalgae such as growth and reproduction. In this study, the growth kinetics of Spirulina Platensis under nitrogen feast-famine cycle were investigated using different nitrogen concentrations. As a result of the findings, it was observed that nitrogen limitation caused a decrease in Spirulina platensis biomass growth rate. In other words, Spirulina platensis absense of nitrogen limits Spirulina production.