Enhancement of Lipid Production from Ankistrodesmus sp

Abstract

 Ankistrodesmussp. was cultivated for the production of microalgal lipid. It was proven that batch culture provided a better biomass and lipid productivities than continuous cultures where the achievable maximum cell and lipid productivities were 279.80 and 87.10 mg L-1 d-1. pH in the range from 6 to 8 was not found to give significant effects on growth and lipid production where the culture seemed to grow best at pH 8. Although the algal growth remained unaltered, lipid production could be enhanced when the culture was aerated with additional CO2. It was found that as much as 30% lipid could be enhanced when 5% by vol. of CO2 was mixed with the air supply, i.e. lipid productivity increased from 87.10 to 104.43 mg L-1 d-1. Analysis indicates that CO2 helped promote the accumulation of palmitic acid which is the dominant lipid species.