Publication: Innovative superhydrophobic platforms for growth enhancement in duckweed cultivation
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Date
2024-09-01
Authors
Chua, Mei Xia
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Abstract
Duckweed, a fast-growing aquatic plant with rich nutritional content,
contributes significantly to various fields like animal feed and bioenergy production.
However, conventional cultivation methods such as ponds and tanks, encounter
challenges water loss, nutrient imbalances, and scalability, limiting biomass yield and
biochemical compositions. These challenges highlighted the need for efficient and
scalable cultivation systems. Hence, this study addresses these challenges by
developing a versatile platform through a novel approach of employing
superhydrophobic properties to duckweed cultivation system. A robust beeswax
superhydrophobic coating (156.06 °) was created by optimizing wax concentration and
simplifying preparation of omitting sonication and annealing. The integration of this
coating into cultivation platforms increased surface area and minimized water
footprint for plant growth. To evaluate the performance of the superhydrophobic
platform, duckweed (Lemna minor and Spirodela polyrhiza) was cultivated and
compared with conventional platform of glass jar that served as the control. The
findings demonstrated that the superhydrophobic platforms significantly improved the
biomass production compared to control. L. minor showed superior growth in the
superhydrophobic coated acrylic platforms (SHPA), while S. polyrhiza thrived best on
the variant of the acrylic platform added with metal mesh (SHPAM). This work
demonstrated the effectiveness of superhydrophobic coatings in promoting duckweed
cultivation. Impacts of geometrical design of cultivation platforms in terms of efficient
distribution of light and nutrient to duckweed were investigated. L. minor and S. polyrhiza were grown on platforms of different geometrical designs, including
geometries of rectangle (SHP-R), oval (SHP-O) and circle (SHP-C). Both species
showed the best performance of growth, nutrient uptake and biochemical quality in
SHP-O. Additionally, a multi-tier cultivation system incorporating superhydrophobic
coatings was investigated. The system (SHP-2T) utilized two tiers to enhance space
utilization and improve light and nutrient distribution. The growth performance and
nutrient uptake of L. minor and S. polyrhiza cultivated in respective tiers were
evaluated. Dye-tracking and CFD simulation demonstrated an even flow pattern in
SHP-2T system, ensuring efficient nutrient distribution, leading to significant
reductions in ammonia and phosphate in the medium for both duckweed species. Both
duckweed species displayed good growth rates and biochemical quality within the
SHP-2T system, with no significant differences observed between tiers, validating the
system's consistency. The successful development of superhydrophobic coatings,
coupled with optimized platform design, has the potential to revolutionize duckweed
production and unlock its full potential for various applications.