Spirulina cultivation

Spirulina as SCP
 Spirulina is a spirally coiled, multicellular, filamentous
blue green algae
 The coiled may tight or relaxed
 The trichome has no definite gelatinous sheath around it
 Spirulina is a naturally found in fresh waters, brackish
waters, marine water, inland saline lakes, hotsprings and
moist soils
 Biomass of Spirulina is rich source of protein (67%)
vitamins, minerals and β- Carotenes
 Hence, the US Federal drug Administration recognised
Spirulina as supplement to human food and animal feed in
1980
 Spirulina maxima biomass was collected from
Texcoco lake and made into biscuits
 The biscuits were sold in Mexico in the name
Tecuitlatl
 The chemical constituents of dried biomass of
Spirulina fusiformis is given below
 Major constituents are crude protein 65%,
Carbohydrates 16%, lipids 6.7%, nucleic acids
4.2%
 Vitamins like biotin, Cyanocobalmine, folic acid,
Riboflavin, Thiamine, tocopherol, β- Carotenes
 Minerals like Calcium, lysine, phosphorous, cystine,
Iron, Methionine, sodium, phenylalanine,
potassium, threonine
 The digestibility of Spirulina SCP is as high as 84%
 So it can be digested easily by human system
 A 20 g of Spirulina SCP can full fill the daily
requirement of essential aminoacids, vitamins or
minerals for an adult man for a day β- Carotene in the
SCP prevents cancer risk
Mass culture of Spirulina
 Spirulina is cultured in large scales in artificial ponds
or tanks or oxidation ponds
 Relatively Simple economic media have been used for
this purpose
 Cost effective culture of Spirulina requires improved
biomass productivity, better light utilization & efficient
CO2 consumption
 Both open & closed system are used to grow Spirulina
in a large scale
Open circulating system
 An open circulating system is a man made open tank
or shallow pond.
 It may be circular or rectangular in shape
 The depth of the tank should be in between 25 to 30
cms.
 Size of the tank may be 500mz-5000mz
 It is built with bricks or concrete and the interior is
lined with a sheet of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
 In circular tanks, a stirrer with a rotating arm is kept at
the centre to provide enough stirring for the culture
 On the other hand, in the rectangular tanks a paddle
wheel is kept in the tank to stir the culture
 Usually the culture tanks are kept open while
functioning
 Sometimes they may be covered with a transparent
glass or plastic sheet to prevent contamination
Circular open tank
Rectangular open tank
Media
1. Economic media are used to culture Spirulina
 Liquid effluents taken from well digested human excreta
 Modified Sea water medium is also used for this purpose
 Human excreta is diluted and digested in a digester at
55ºC for 10 days
 Liquid effluent is then taken from the digester and filtered
through a fine cloth to get a filtrate
 The filtrate is again filtered through a Sand-bed filter to
remove the contaminants
 The final filtrate is used as medium for Spirulina culture
 It is used in a rural villages and municipalities in
developing countries
2. Another economic medium is the Sea water
 The Sea water is treated with NaHCO3 (19.29/lit) to
precipitate out excess Ca²⁺and Mg²⁺ ions
 To this Sea water K2HPO4 (0.59/ lit) FeSO4
(0.01g/lit) and urea (0.2g/lit) are added to make it a
culture medium.
 The ph of the media is adjusted to 8.5
 A medium is filled in the open circulating tank and
the tank is inoculated with a small volume of pure
Spirulina culture
 The culture is stirred continuously for giving aeration to it
 It is illuminated with a low intensity light
 If it is inside the room the temperature is maintained at 35º to
40ºC which is suitable for the rapid growth of spirulina and
forms a bloom in the culture
 Spirulina filaments develop gas vacuoles in the cells and
hence they float on the surface of culture medium
 As the density of the filament increases
 A dense bluish green mat develops on the surface of the
culture
 The biomass is harvested by filtration using a fine mesh or
cloth
 In this way, about 12.20 gram of Spirulina/m²/day can be
harvested from a pond
Oxidation Pond system
 In this method, all solid wastes and suspended particles
are removed from the sewage water by primary and
secondary treatments
 The sewage water is allowed to flow into an oxidation
(tank) pond
 A few litres of Spirulina culture inoculated into pond
as a starter culture.
 Spirulina grows in the natural system and produces a
dense mat on the surface of the sewage water
 The biomass is harvested by using special devices that
can filter a large amount of sample
Uses of Spirulina SCP
 Spirulina is used as a health food, therapeutic agent and a
source of cosmetics
 The important uses of Spirulina biomass are given below
1. Spirulina as Health Food
 Spirulina SCP is rich source of nutritionally valuable
proteins, vitamins and minerals. It is easily digestible and
it has a good acceptability by human system
 Eating 20 g rams of Spirulina SCP daily can fulfil the
essential aminoacids, vitamins & minerals required for an
adult man
 Medical councils all over the world have
recommended to use Spirulina as a supplement food in
the diet of under-nutritioned children
 In India, Spirulina capsules are available in the trade
names Eufit, Nuclina, Recolina and Zyrulina at local
medical stores.
 Generally, 2 capsules are recommended for adults per
day
Murugappa Chettiar Research
Centre (MCRC)
 Chennai, has been trying to use Spirulina slurry along
with the popular South Indian dishes like Idli and
Dosa
 Spirulina also used in purce and bread sandwitch
 It enhances flavour, colour and acceptability of the
dishes
 Spirulina serves as food for instant energy for sports
men and others who need more calories
2. Spirulina as therapeutic agent
 Spirulina SCP is recommended for patients to reduce body
weight, cholesterol deposition and to reduce blood-sugar level in
diabetics
 It promotes wound healing by stimulating the skin metabolism
 Taking a 3 grams of Spirulina in the previous night reduces pre-
menstrual stress in women
 Because of the presence of Phycocyanin in Spirulina it
stimulates the immune system to provide resistance to the body
agai nst many pathogenic diseases
 The β- Carotene in Spirulina acts as an anticancer agent to
prevent cancer risks
 It also increases the eye power via the synthesis of Vitamin A
 Spirulina biomass increases lactation in nourishing mother
3. Spirulina as a Supplement
Animal feed
 Feed supplemented with Spirulina increases lactation in
Cow & Buffalo
 It increases the growth rate of pigs & goat & increases the
meat yield
 Calves grow well when they are feed supplemented with
Spirulina
 Silkworms fed with leaves of Morus alba & Spirulina give
more silk in the cocoons
 Fish feed supplemented with Spirulina increases growth
rate and body weight of fishes. Eg.: Catla catla, Tilapia,
Moss ambica
 Spirulina increases layering in poultry
4. Spirulina as a raw material for
cosmetics
 Spirulina is rich in essential aminoacids and vitamins
A & B which are essential for the growth of hairs
 It is used to formulate hair-oils which promote hair
growth
 Phycocyanin a bluish pigment, is extracted from
spirulina and used for making herbal lipsticks and face
creames