Microalgal biotechnology in Costa Rica: Business opportunities to the national productive sector

Abstract

Microalgal biotechnology is presented as a market opportunity for the productive sector. In this review some aspects of the potential and limitations of this biotechnology sector for our region will be detailed. The visualization of this potential goes back more than a decade when the Biotechnology Research Center began the process of selecting and preserving native microalgae strains, and scaling-up their biomass. We will briefly describe some microalgae cultivation and microalgal biomass processing systems that can be used for different markets, including the feeding of humans and animals, biofertilizers, water treatment, CO2 capture and the generation of metabolites of high value. At the same time, progress has been made in the generation of protocols for the scaling of microalgae through the formulation of organic media with agroindustrial residues such as dairy manure, sugar cane vinasse, pig manure and chicken manure. Cultivation has also been developed in different areas of the Costa Rican territory, showing the possibility for adaptation in different climatic regions.