Spirulina

[Tanya Kuritz]

Maria:
         There is a wealth of literature regarding Spirulina products.  For 
alimentary and medicinal purposes, it is advisable that Spirulina is grown 
indoors to prevent uncontrolled contamination and to control growth 
better.  This is especially true in the US with cGMP requirements for 
medicinal products and a growing trend to apply those standards to dietary 
supplements.  However, outdoor ponds are used in, I recall, Taiwan 
(Spirulina farms for US products), and in Israel; although some Israeli 
outdoor systems are, in fact, contained.
         Use of swine farm runoffs does not seem justified for your project 
since Spirulina is photoautotrophic, which means that organic matter (the 
main manure-associated "treasure") is of no value to 
Spirulina.  Additionally, there is a lot of problems with swine manure, two 
major of which are: (1) swine manure carries a number of human pathogens, 
and (2) cyanobacterial mucilage protects viability of a number of pathogens 
and sorbs and concentrates viruses (demonstrated with polio).
         Your intention, as I understand, is to design a value-added 
system.  Again, it is worth addressing literature especially on wetlands, 
which outlines some value-added approaches.  We are trying to develop a 
value-added system in Egypt, where cyanobacterial biomass generated through 
pesticide clean-up will be re-used as low-biotech, e.g. fertilizer 
etc.  Involving or consulting with someone familiar with Spirulina 
microbiology and food and drug regulatory system in Spain will help you 
graduate with flying banners.  Good luck!
Tanya Kuritz, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Chemical Technology Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

         The At 11:30 AM 3/2/01 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi!
>I'm a newcomer int this newsgroup. I'm an engineering
>student an now ,I'm doing my ending projet about
>Arthrospira (Spirulina before) ,and single cellular protein
>mainly with the objective of nourishment (animal and human
>feed). I thinck it's better an outdoor than photobioreactor
>culture due to spanish conditions of light and heat.
>
>But I've seen that it's possible the use of Spirulina
>cultures with medioambiental purposes.
>Somebody has even heard or read something about the use of
>agricole wastewater as medium culture of Spirulina?(I'm
>thinking about pig farms because of pollution in my area)
>Not for lab work, but for industrie.
>If that is so, what about the sanity side?
>I've been also trying to find some species (bacteria or
>algae) that could pollute some spirulina culture,
>nevertheless it's no easier at pH=10.
>
>Thank you very much
>Mª Carmen
>


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