Cultivation of Scenedesmus strains on dairy whey: screening, scaling-up and biomass valorization

Remarkable amounts of water are generally required in food-processing activities as in dairy industries where 6 to 10 liters of effluents are generated per liter of processed milk (Ahmad et al., 2019). On the other hand, milk whey has suitable features to be used as substrates for microalgal cultivation, thus increasing its value (Reno et al., 2020). The aim of this work was to assess growth and nutrient removal capacity of Scenedesmus strains cultivated on milk whey and to investigate the best management option for scale-up. Additionally, preliminary bioassays were conducted to assess the biostimulant potential of the obtained biomasses.