Biochar assisted cultivation of Chlorella protothecoides for adsorption of tetracycline and electrochemical study on self-cultured Chlorella protothecoides

Microalgae present a viable mechanism for purifying aquatic environments through the absorption of organic pollutants. In this paper, Chlorella protothecoides was cultured in a tetracycline environment, and biochar was added during the cultivation process. Compared with conventionally cultured Chlorella protothecoides, the addition of biochar for cultivation under a tetracycline environment increased the biomass of Chlorella proto-thecoides by 13.26 %. Moreover, the adsorption of tetracycline by biochar alone was not complete, but when mixed with Chlorella protothecoides, tetracycline was completely removed, which proved the biosorption of Chlorella protothecoides for low concentrations of tetracycline. Finally, the cultured Chlorella protothecoides was used further to prepare electrode materials, and it was found that the specific capacitance of the material reached 233.15F/g at a current density of 1 A/g. In this study, the use of biochar and Chlorella protothecoides to jointly adsorb tetracycline is of great significance for environmental protection and microalgae cultivation.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the importance of using biochar and Chlorella protothecoides together for adsorbing tetracycline in environmental purification. The addition of biochar increases the biomass of Chlorella protothecoides and it proves that Chlorella protothecoides can completely absorb low concentrations of tetracycline.