Heterotrophic Cultivation of Microalgae in Wastewater

Microalgae has a very large diversity compared to any other organism. They are a versatile group of plants that are found almost everywhere such as soil, water, bog and marsh and have evolved over the years to grow and survive in different environments. Most microalgae perform photosynthesis to synthesize food from carbon dioxide and sunlight. However, in the absence of sunlight, to grow and survive they either synthesize their food in the dark environment or feed on organic carbon sources. A number of microalgae species have evolved to feed on organic carbon sources and undergo respiration to facilitate heterotrophic growth. This research focuses on heterotrophic cultivation of algae with wastewater as the growth media and briefly looks at the various cultivation processes with different microalgal strains available. Various additives to instigate the growth of microalgal strains in different cultural mediums are also discussed. This paper can be used as a basis to carry out experiments for a more economical infrastructure.