The aim of this study was to evaluate to what extent
microalgae can adjust the concentration of N and P in their
biomass to the supply of these nutrients in the wastewater.
Because nutrient availability has a profound influence on the
biochemical composition of microalgae, we expect that
availability of one nutrient may have an influence on the
uptake of the other nutrient. Therefore, we used a central
composite design in which the supply of N and P to microalgae
was varied independently. We tested this for the two microalgae
species that are most frequently observed in
microalgae-based wastewater treatment systems: Chlorella
and Scenedesmus (Craggs et al., 2013; Pittman et al., 2011). We
also evaluated to what extent changes in wastewater N and P
supply influenced the biochemical composition of the
biomass because this has important implications for the valorisation
of the biomass