Nutrient Removal and Starch Production through Cultivation of Wolffia arrhiza

概要

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Wolffia arrhiza, a small weed found mostly in tropical and subtropical water enviroments, exhibits a high growth rate and consequently absorbs large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. Its vegetative fround contains 40% protein on a dry weight basis and its turion, which is the dormant form, has a similar strach content. The applicability of this weed to nutrient removal from secondary-treated wastewater combined with starch resource production was evaluated. The nitrogen and phosphorus removal capabilities of the vegetative found and the optimal conditions for inducing of the formation of turions from harvested biomass of vegetative fronds for the production of starch were investigated using artificial nutrient solutions. The vegetative frond showed high contents of nitrogen (6-7% of the total dry weight) and phosphorus (1-2% of the total dry weight). The nutrient removal rates of the vegetative fround were estimated to be 126 mg-N/m^2/d and 38 mg-P/m^2/d under a continuous flow condition. For turion formation from the vegetative fronds, a low nutrient concentration and a high plant density were most effective. Under the optimum conditions, the starch production rate was estimated to be 6 g-starch/m^2(nutrient removal tank)/d.
公益社団法人日本生物工学会の論文
1999-02-25