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July 31, 2025
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Strategies to control the growth of unwanted microalgae during the production of Arthrospira platensis BEA 005B

Publicated to: Cleaner Engineering and Technology. 27 101035- - 2025-07-01 27(), DOI: 10.1016/j.clet.2025.101035

Authors:

Villaró, S; Valero-Cardoso, S; Cerda-Moreno, C; Ciardi, M; Lafarga, T
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Affiliations

Joint Ctr Univ Almeria, CIESOL Solar Energy Res Ctr, CIEMAT, Almeria 04120, Spain - Author
Univ Almeria, Dept Chem Engn, Almeria 04120, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Valencia, Dept Chem, Valencia 46022, Spain - Author
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Abstract

When producing Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina) it is essential to reuse the exhausted culture medium for sustainability reasons. However, this strategy is challenging given the negative effect the medium has on microalgal growth. While recycling helps reduce costs and environmental impact, it can also result in an increased risk of biological contamination. Indeed, in this study, harvesting Arthrospira platensis using a 100 mu m mesh led to an accumulation of an unwanted microalga identified as Chlorella sp. To address this issue, various strategies were evaluated. These included the use of sea salt, increasing the pH, heating the culture, or adding an additional ultrafiltration step. The results showed that the most effective solution was to incorporate a 0.2 mu m membrane filter. This technique eliminated the Chlorella sp. cells from the culture medium, resulting in a 15 % increase in the A. platensis biomass production compared to unfiltered cultures. Adjusting the pH of the culture to 10.5 also limited the growth of Chlorella sp. without significantly affecting A. platensis growth. This strategy proved suitable for delaying the accumulation of Chlorella sp. but did not avoid its appearance. The findings reported in this work underscore the importance of choosing appropriate separation methods to ensure the purity and productivity of A. platensis cultures in large-scale production systems.
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Keywords

BiomasBiomass productionChlorella-vulgarisCultivatioCultureFiltrationFluorescencePhSpirulinaSpirulina-platensisStressSustainabilityWater management

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Cleaner Engineering and Technology due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 58/376, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Environmental Sciences.

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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-06:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 15 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

    It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

    • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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    Awards linked to the item

    This work forms part of the SOLAR center dot FOODS (PID2022-136292OB-I00) project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the BLUE center dot FUTURE (PCM_00083) project, funded by the Government of Andalusia and the European Union. The authors also acknowledge the financial support given by the RE center dot USE (PLSQ_2023_00233) project, funded by the Government of Andalusia and the European Regional Development Fund. The authors would also like to thank PPIT-UAL, Junta de Andalucia-FEDER 2021-2027 (Programe 54.A; Application: 741; CPRE2023-076) and the Ramon y Cajal Program (RYC2021-031061-I) .
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