Enhancement for the synthesis of bio-energy molecules (carbohydrates and lipids) in Desmodesmus subspicatus: experiments and optimization techniques

Abstract

Microalgae are regarded as renewable resources of energy, foods and high-valued compounds using a biorefinery approach. In the present study, we explored isolated microalgae (Desmodesmus subspicatus) for the production of bio-energy molecules (carbohydrate and lipid). Optimizations of media (BG-11) components have been made using the Taguchi orthogonal array (TOA) technique to maximize biomass, carbohydrate and lipid production. Optimized results showed that biomass, carbohydrates and lipid productivity increased by 1.3 times at optimal combinations of media components than standard BG-11 media. Further, the influence of various carbon and nitrogen sources as nutritional supplement with optimum media composition under different light intensities was investigated for productivity of carbohydrate and lipid. Results demonstrated that 1.5 times higher productivity of carbohydrate and lipids were achieved in the presence optimum BG-11 under a broad range of light intensities (84–504 µmol m−2 s−1). Among different nitrogen sources, glycine was found to give higher productivity (1.5 times) followed by urea. Use of the cellulose as a carbon source in the media significantly increases biomass (2.4 times), carbohydrates (2.3 times) and lipids (2.3 times) productivity. Investigations revealed that cultivating Desmodesmus subspicatus under optimum culture conditions has the potential for large-scale bio-ethanol and bio-diesel production.