Assessment of Chlorella vulgaris and indigenous microalgae biomass with treated wastewater as growth culture medium

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the feasibility of microalgae cultivation using secondary treated domestic wastewater. Two Chlorella vulgaris strains (CICESE and UTEX) and an indigenous consortium, were cultivated on treated wastewater enriched with and without the fertilizer Bayfolan®. Biomass production for C. vulgaris UTEX, CICESE and the indigenous consortium grown in treated wastewater was 1.167 ± 0.057, 1.575 ± 0.434 and 1.125 ± 0.250 g/L, with a total lipid content of 25.70 ± 1.24, 23.35 ± 3.01and 20.54 ± 1.23% dw, respectively. The fatty acids profiles were mainly composed of C16 and C18. Regardless of the media used, in all three strains unsaturated fatty acids were the main FAME (fatty acids methyl esters) accumulated in a range of 45–62%. An enrichment of treated wastewater with Bayfolan® significantly increased the production of biomass along with an increase in pigments and proteins of ten and threefold, respectively.