Mass production of the blue-green alga Spirulina: An overview

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177 Scopus citations

Abstract

Progress has been made in the past decade in developing appropriate technology for microalgal mass cultivation. This review details basic requirements required in order to achieve high productivity and low cost of production. There is a need for a wide variety of algal species and strains that will favorably respond to the varying environmental conditions existing outdoors. Another essential requirement is for better bioreactors, either by improving existing open raceway types or developing tubular closed systems. The latter solution seems more promising. These developments must overcome the main limitation confronting the industry today which is the overall low areal yields which fall too short of the theoretical maximum and which are associated with scaling up microalgal culture to commercial size.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)233-247
Number of pages15
JournalBiomass
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1988

Keywords

  • Algal mass culture
  • Spirulina
  • algal ponds
  • blue-green algae
  • productivity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Environmental Science
  • General Engineering
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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