Utilization of sea water–urea as a culture medium for Spirulina maxima

The possibilities of utilization of seawater enriched with urea as the culture medium for a blue-green alga, Spirulina maxima, were investigated. Pretreatment by precipitation with NaHCO3 and (or) Na2CO3 was found essential to remove the excess amounts of Ca2+ and Mg2+ present in seawater prior to cultivation. A culture medium as good as the synthetic medium reported in the literature for the growth of S. maxima was obtained after treating seawater with NaHCO3 (19.2 g/L) at pH 9.2 and 35 °C for 2 h, filtering to remove precipitates, and enriching with K2HPO4 (0.5 g/L), NaNO3 (3.0 g/L), and FeSO4 (0.01 g/L). The same results were obtained by substituting a small amount (0.2 g/L or less) of either crystalline or polymerized urea for the NaNO3 in the above medium. Growth of S. maxima was inhibited at higher concentration s of urea in the culture medium. The inhibition effect was due to the partial decomposition of urea into ammonia in alkali medium. Tests conducted on the 130-L cultivation open pond also confirmed that the seawater–urea medium supports growth of S. maxima as well as the best known synthetic medium.