Paper

Effect of Nitrogen Content and CO2 Consumption Rate by Adding Sodium Carbonate in the Lipid Content of Chlorella vulgaris and Neochloris oleoabundans


Authors:
Nain Elvira-Antonio; Alejandro Ruíz-Marí; Yunuen Canedo-López
Abstract
New alternatives for the production of fuels have led to considering the use of microalgae to obtain biofuel. Studies have reported that Chlorella vulgaris (59%), Nannochloropsissp (68%) and Neochlorisoleoabundans (54%) had high content of lipid under nitrogen limitation. The present study evaluated the effects on growth and lipid content of Chlorella vulgaris and Neochlorisoleoabundans under reduced nitrogen content and enrichment with sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). Both C. vulgaris and N. oleoabundans were cultivated in medium with NH4Cl and KNO3 as only source of nitrogen, respectively. The nitrogen initial content was of 30 mg l-1 at 32°C and light intensity of 100 μmol m-2 s-1.The maximum cell density obtained was of 21.80 x 106 cells ml-1 and 28.12 x 106 cells ml-1 for both microalgae, where higher growth rate was obtained for N. oleoabundans of 0.219 d-1 that C. vulgaris of 0.183 d-1 with similar lipids content (65.20-69.31%). In culture with Na2CO3 at concentrations of 1, 2.5 and 5 g l-1, the highest lipid content (69.5%) for C. vulgaris in culture with Na2CO3 of 1 g l-1 was obtained during 144 h of culture, whereas that for N. oleoabundans the 57.7% lipid content was obtained at 120 h. The lipid content and growth for both microalgae decreases at higher concentration of Na2CO3; caused probable by inhibition processes. The consumption rate of carbon dioxide showed that N. oleoabundans had a greater capacity and tolerance for using carbon dioxide and carbonate (112.8-115.2 mg l-1 d-1) with respect to C. vulgaris 95.76-105.75 mg l-1 d-1.
Keywords
Chlorella vulgaris; Neochloris oleoabundans; Nitrogen; Lipid Content; CO2 Consumption Rate
StartPage
13
EndPage
19
Doi
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