Preliminary Design of Phycocyanin Production from Spirulina platensis Using Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manure Wastewater

Abstract

Abstract Phycocyanin is a blue pigment that is found in cyanobacteria such as Spirulina platensis. Its ability to provide stable and non-toxic blue color makes its market value is so high that it reaches USD 112.3 million in 2018. However, the cultivation of S. platensis to produce phycocyanin can only be carried out by large-scale industry, due to high operating costs of synthetic medium such as Zarrouk. We considered the use of Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manure Wastewater (ADDMW) as an alternative for growth medium to produce phycocyanin from S. platensis . A laboratory-scale study was conducted to determine the optimum composition of the medium containing ADDMW and NaHCO 3 as a carbon source for S. platensis. We found that the ADDMW medium combined with 16.8 g/L NaHCO 3 and 25 g/L NaCl resulted the highest productivity of phycocyanin among the other variations. Industrial-scale economic analysis of this integrated cultivation method showed its economic feasibility using 10 years lifetime analysis. Highest GPM (gross profit margin) obtained is 12.40 with IRR (internal rate of return) 23% which give 3.13 years of payback period. Futher study is needed on technical aspect and actual implementation of industrial scale design.