Inductively coupled plasma nanosilica based growth method for enhanced biomass production in marine diatom algae.

Abstract This work reports a novel solution-based method to trigger the growth of diatoms for enhanced biomass production, which can efficiently stimulate their applications in nutraceuticals, aquaculture and wastewater remediation. The optimization of growth of three marine diatoms species was performed using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) synthesized nanosilica which can be a cost-effective and productive method for biomass production. The exponential growth phase was achieved in 14 days with high biomass productivity compared to F/2-Si Media [Chaetoceros sp. (125±3 & 750±3 mgL-1day-1); Skeletonema sp., (185.3±2.63 & 562.5±3.96 mgL-1day-1); and Thalassiosira sp. (312.5±2.51 & 433.5±1.80 mgL-1day-1)] along with a sharp rise of 50-100 fold increment in pigmentation. This work opens up an avenue with novel insights to trigger the growth of diatoms on large scale leading to their better exploitation towards biotechnological applications.