The influence of flow rate and the composition of supplied CO2/air mixtures on discontinuous growth of Tetraselmis sp.

Abstract

This paper studies the influence of the flow rate of gaseous mixtures on the kinetics of growth and the fatty acid composition of Tetraselmis sp. at CO2/air ratios of 3 × 10−4 and 2 × 10−5. The specific growth rate rises with increased flow rate up to values of approximately 0.086 h−1 and 0.063 h−1 at CO2/air ratios of 3 × 10−4 and 2 × 10−5 respectively, when the flow rate is approximately 3 v/v per minute. At higher flow rates, the specific growth rate decreases. The polyunsaturated fatty acid content decreases slightly as the gaseous mixture flow rate increases, whereby the ratio ω3/ω6 remains between 2 and 3, indicating good nutritional values.