Cultivation of Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis in olive-oil mill wastewater treated with sodium hypochlorite

The subject of this paper is the cultivation of the cyanobacterium Arthrospira (Sprirulina) platensis in olive-oil mill wastewater (OMWW) treated with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). The main positive effect of NaOCl on the OMWW characteristics is the decrease of the phenol concentration and turbidity, rendering the OMWW suitable for A. platensis growth. Maximum biomass production (1696 mg/l) was obtained when the concentration of OMWW in the cultivation medium was 10% with the supplementation of 1 g/l NaNO3 and 5 g/l NaHCO3. However, the addition of NaHCO3 has no significant effect, indicating that the only limited nutrient in this wastewater is nitrogen, while carbon is provided by the organic compounds of the wastewater. The maximum of the removals of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and carbohydrates was 73.18% and 91.19%, respectively, while phenols, phosphorus and nitrates in some runs was completely removed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.