CO2 from alcoholic fermentation for continuous cultivation of Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis in tubular photobioreactor using urea as nitrogen source

This study evaluates the use of the CO2 released from alcoholic fermentation for the production of Arthrospira platensis. For this purpose, this cyanobacterium was cultivated in continuous process using urea as nitrogen source, either using CO2 from alcoholic fermentation, without any treatment, or using pure CO2 from cylinder. These results demonstrate that the use of such cost free CO2 from alcoholic fermentation as carbon source, associated with low cost nitrogen source, may be a promising way to reduce costs of continuous cultivation of photosynthetic microorganisms, contributing at the same time to mitigate the greenhouse effect.