Abstract
An oil-producing microalga SP-01 belonging to the genus Scenedesmus was shown to be able to grow on a media containing 5 to 30 g L-1 NaCl. Under mixotrophic condition, the maximum cell dry weight of 3.1 g L -1 and specific growth rate of 0.034 h -1 were obtained at 0.5 g L -1 NaNO 3 and 6 g L -1 acetate. The effects of salinity on the biomass, lipid, and carotenoid productions of the alga SP-01 in mixotrophic mode were investigated. The biomass productivity increased with increasing NaNO3 concentrations, and addition of NaCl resulted in a higher biomass while NaNO 3 was present. The maximum lipid content was obtained while no NaNO 3 and NaCl was added, and the lipid content decreased with increasing NaNO 3 concentrations or addition of NaCl. The maximum lipid productivities of 67.44 to 68.44 mg L-1day -1 were obtained while NaNO3 and NaCl were not added or while 20 g L -1 NaCl and 0.13 g L -1 NaNO 3 were added. The algal lipid was mainly composed of C16 and C18 fatty acids accounting for more than 90% of total fatty acids. Furthermore, lutein and astaxanthin were the main carotenoids. Key words : Halotolerant, microalga, Scenedesmus sp., mixotrophic culture, lipid, carotenoid.
Highlights
Microalgal biodiesel appears to be the renewable biofuel that has the potential to replace petroleum-derived transport fuel (Chisti, 2008)
Identification and characterization of the newly isolated green microalga strain The ITS gene sequence of the alga SP-01 was a continuous stretch of 662 bp and was recorded in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) under the accession number JN832676
The biomass yields increased with increasing concentrations of sodium chloride and the maximum cell dry weight (1.89 g L-1) and specific growth rate (0.02 h-1) were obtained in 5 g L-1 NaCl
Summary
Microalgal biodiesel appears to be the renewable biofuel that has the potential to replace petroleum-derived transport fuel (Chisti, 2008). Mutanda et al (2011) indicated that the microalgal biodiesel production mainly depends on the isolation and selection of ideal algal strains.The key factors determining the potential of microalgal strains as biodiesel material are their growth rate, lipid content, and lipid productivity (Mutanda et al 2011; Gong and Jiang, 2011; Griffiths and Harrison, 2009). The ideal algal strain for biofuel production should have the highest biomass productivity and the highest lipid content This is not always achievable, because the microalgae with higher lipid content have mostly a slower growth rate, such as Botryococcus braunii (Rao et al, 2007). Much of early research on biodiesel production from microalgae focused on the search for species with high lipid content. Those species grew slowly, and were conta- minated by other microorganisms in large-scale culture conditions
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