**Cultivation and Adaptations**

**Chapter 4**

**Provisional chapter**

**Cultivating** *Spirulina maxima***: Innovative Approaches**

This chapter reports an annual production of *Spirulina* (*Arthrospira*) *maxima* in Ansan, South Korea (37.287°N, 126.833°E) with temperate four seasons climate for testing industrial application. Construction on pilot plant of semi-open raceway system (ORS) with each 20 ton culture volume has been established in early 2011 based on building information modeling (BIM). An optimized design of pilot culture system for microalgae scale-up culture in temperate area and details of culture was presented. In scale-up trials using two ORSs, the strain displayed satisfactory annual growth under batch condition. In an annual trial, average biomass concentration was recorded at 0.99 ± 0.16 g/L, which showed stable productivity in a year. Maximum concentration was estimated at 1.418 ± 0.09 g/L in August, while minimum production was estimated at 0.597 ± 0.05 g/L in October. Despite insufficient solar radiation and nutrients, ORS was favorable for *S. maxima* production. The technical strategies contribute to the annual production of *S. maxima* in this region: controlling the culture temperature, reducing production cost, and retrospective climatic data-based BIM construction of the greenhouse. Consequently, pilot production of *S. maxima* was feasible in Korean climates, a region previously thought to be outside its geographic limits.

**Keywords:** *Spirulina* production, temperate climate, BIM-based pilot plant

*Spirulina* (*Arthrospira*) is a 3.6-billion-year-old cyanobacterium and inhabits alkaline aquatic ecosystems from freshwater to seawater [1, 2]. As sustainable primary producers, the cyanobacteria have been studied on various aspects centered by bio-industry and environmental

**Cultivating** *Spirulina maxima***: Innovative Approaches**

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.74265

Taeho Kim, Woo-Seok Choi, Bo-Ram Ye, Soo-Jin Heo, Dongkyu Oh, SeongEun Kim,

Taeho Kim, Woo-Seok Choi, Bo-Ram Ye, Soo-Jin Heo, Dongkyu Oh, SeongEun Kim,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Kwang-Sik Choi and Do-Hyung Kang

Kwang-Sik Choi and Do-Hyung Kang

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74265

**Abstract**

construction, Korea

**1. Introduction**

#### **Cultivating** *Spirulina maxima***: Innovative Approaches Cultivating** *Spirulina maxima***: Innovative Approaches**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.74265

Taeho Kim, Woo-Seok Choi, Bo-Ram Ye, Soo-Jin Heo, Dongkyu Oh, SeongEun Kim, Kwang-Sik Choi and Do-Hyung Kang Taeho Kim, Woo-Seok Choi, Bo-Ram Ye, Soo-Jin Heo, Dongkyu Oh, SeongEun Kim, Kwang-Sik Choi and Do-Hyung Kang

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74265

#### **Abstract**

This chapter reports an annual production of *Spirulina* (*Arthrospira*) *maxima* in Ansan, South Korea (37.287°N, 126.833°E) with temperate four seasons climate for testing industrial application. Construction on pilot plant of semi-open raceway system (ORS) with each 20 ton culture volume has been established in early 2011 based on building information modeling (BIM). An optimized design of pilot culture system for microalgae scale-up culture in temperate area and details of culture was presented. In scale-up trials using two ORSs, the strain displayed satisfactory annual growth under batch condition. In an annual trial, average biomass concentration was recorded at 0.99 ± 0.16 g/L, which showed stable productivity in a year. Maximum concentration was estimated at 1.418 ± 0.09 g/L in August, while minimum production was estimated at 0.597 ± 0.05 g/L in October. Despite insufficient solar radiation and nutrients, ORS was favorable for *S. maxima* production. The technical strategies contribute to the annual production of *S. maxima* in this region: controlling the culture temperature, reducing production cost, and retrospective climatic data-based BIM construction of the greenhouse. Consequently, pilot production of *S. maxima* was feasible in Korean climates, a region previously thought to be outside its geographic limits.

**Keywords:** *Spirulina* production, temperate climate, BIM-based pilot plant construction, Korea
