Enhancement of Chlorella vulgaris bioethanol production by optimizing phosphorus concentrations

Abstract

This study investigated the bioethanol production from green algae Chlorella vulgaris depending on its carbohydrate-enriched biomass. Four different phosphorous concentrations were employed to stimulate bioethanol production from Chlorella vulgaris. The impact of various phosphorous values on Chlorella vulgaris growth rate as well as primary product (carbohydrate) were evaluated. High performance liquid chromatography was utilized in this work. The stationary phase was identified as day 14, 12, 10 and 6 in treatments 6, 4, 2 and g/L, respectively. The findings suggest that the treatment without phosphorous addition had the highest record of carbohydrate content (22.64% dry weight) as well as the highest bioethanol yield (20.66% dry weight). It was also found that at 0 g/L treatment, the growth rate was the highest with 0.75 (day-1) while the lowest was recorded at 0.42 with at 6 g/L. Finally, with the treatment of 0 g/L, the shortest doubling time was obtained with 1.35 days, while the highest one was observed with 2.4 days at 6 g/L treatment.