Effects of sodium bicarbonate as an inorganic carbon source on the growth of scenedesmus dimorphus
This study investigates the effect of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) on growth of S. dimorphus. NaHCO3 concentration was varied from 0 to 2 g-C/L. As a result, the increase in concentration of NaHCO3 up to 1.5 g-C/L increased dry weight of algae. The highest specific growth rate of S. dimorphus was 0.36 day-1 which was obtained at concentration of 0.5 g-C/L NaHCO3. pH showed a large variation range at the concentrations lower than 0.5 g-C/L NaHCO3 whereas inorganic carbon, nitrate and phosphorus removal rates were almost same at the concentrations higher than 0.5 g-C/L NaHCO3 (0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2 g-C/L NaHCO3). Their average inorganic carbon, nitrate and phosphorus removal rate were 70 mg-C/L/d, 11.3 mg-N/L/d, and 1.6 mg-P/L/d, respectively. Thus, NaHCO3 didn’t effect on inorganic carbon, nitrate and phosphorus removal rate of S. dimorphus.