Evaluation of media and light source effects on the growth of Botryococcus braunii for biofuel production

Abstract

Burning of fossil fuels is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the USA as well as other parts of the World. Increased greenhouse emissions not only cause the global warming but also pose threat to public health. This has led to increased interest in the production of renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel source that is obtained from renewable biomass, such as canola, soybean, corn, palm, sunflower, and algae. The green alga Botryococcus braunii shows great potential for biodiesel production due to its ability to produce high amounts of hydrocarbon. In this study, we investigated culture media (starter mix, miracle-Gro, and commercial fertilizer) and light sources (yellow, white LED, and pink/blue) effects on the growth of B. braunii for the production of biomass and hydrocarbons. The test results indicated that starter mix media under pink/blue light source with the light intensity of 24.3 μmol/s and photoperiod of 12 h light: 12 h dark at room temperature (22–25 °C) were found to be best condition. The highest optical density (OD680) value (1.853) was obtained on day 23 of the incubation period. Variation of the dry biomass expectedly showed similar characteristics to the optical density.