Influence of ammonium sulphate feeding time on fed-batch Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis cultivation and biomass composition with and without pH control

Previous work demonstrated that a mixture of NH4Cl and KNO3 as nitrogen source was beneficial to fed-batch Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis cultivation, in terms of either lower costs or higher cell concentration. On the basis of those results, this study focused on the use of a cheaper nitrogen source mixture, namely (NH4)2SO4 plus NaNO3, varying the ammonium feeding time (T = 7–15 days), either controlling the pH by CO2 addition or not. A. platensis was cultivated in mini-tanks at 30 °C, 156 μmol photons m−2 s−1, and starting cell concentration of 400 mg L−1, on a modified Schlösser medium. T = 13 days under pH control were selected as optimum conditions, ensuring the best results in terms of biomass production (maximum cell concentration of 2911 mg L−1, cell productivity of 179 mg L−1 d−1 and specific growth rate of 0.77 d−1) and satisfactory protein and lipid contents (around 30% each).