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Growth and biomass composition of Chlorella vulgaris using nutrient-rich water and CO2 from a recirculating aquaculture system

Year of publication

2026

Authors

Hiltunen, Minna; Kannangara, Ruchira; Nakandalage, Bernadeth; Söderena, Olivia; Timilsina, Hemanta; Pirhonen, Juhani; Pulkkinen, Katja

Abstract

Recycling waste to new products is a key concept in circular economy with benefits to environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation. Microalgae cultivation integrated to aquaculture is an example of circular economy that has potential to increase environmental sustainability of aquaculture via capture of nutrients and use of CO2 efflux, and production of valuable, renewable biomass and biomolecules. Here we studied the simultaneous utilization of Recirculating Aquaculture System's (RAS) water and CO2 exhaust (ca. 600–1100 ppm) on growth and biochemical composition of Chlorella vulgaris, a widely used microalga. C. vulgaris had high growth rates (μmax up to 0.95) even at the relatively low temperature of 18–19 °C used in the experiments and captured on average 98–100 % of phosphate, 82–99 % of nitrate, and 68–95 % of total nitrogen in the RAS water during 8–16 day experiments. Growth, biomass accumulation, and nutrient capture were improved by using high light intensity (ca. 90 μmol m−2 s−1) and/or RAS exhaust air. The highest lipid content (∼18 % DW) in C. vulgaris was achieved in two-stage cultivation under sulphur limitation, but nitrogen limitation by adding phosphorus (decreasing N:P ratio) into RAS water did not increase lipid content. Fatty acid composition of C. vulgaris was mainly determined by culture medium and light intensity. Overall, we produced stable and fast-growing cultures of C. vulgaris using RAS water and biogenic CO2 in conditions relevant for potential future integration of microalgal production to RAS while examining also biochemical composition of the produced biomass.
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Organizations and authors

University of Jyväskylä

Timilsina Hemanta Orcid -palvelun logo

Pirhonen Juhani Orcid -palvelun logo

Pulkkinen Katja Orcid -palvelun logo

Hiltunen Minna Orcid -palvelun logo

Söderena Olivia

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Journal

Article type

Original article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A1 Journal article (refereed), original research

Publication channel information

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

610

Article number

742956

​Publication forum

51544

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

Yes

Open access of publication channel

Partially open publication channel

Self-archived

No

Other information

Fields of science

Ecology, evolutionary biology

Keywords

[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Publication country

Netherlands

Internationality of the publisher

International

Language

English

International co-publication

No

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.1016/j.aquaculture.2025.742956

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes