Obtaining lipids and carbohydrates from microalgae via design of selective culture media

Abstract

Sustainable production of microalgae biorefineries presents several technical bottlenecks in different levels, including maximization of productivity of energy blocks as carbohydrates and lipids, which can be used as feedstocks for biodiesel and bioethanol production. An alternative for increasing productivity of energy blocks is the use of alternative crops to traditional chemical media, which are based on carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen sources and microelements. This work presents the design of two mixotrophic crops were designed at different concentrations of carbon, nitrogen and phosphate sources with the aim of evaluating the carbohydrates and lipids production from Chlorella vulgaris. The culture media were designed at different concentrations of sodium nitrate, potassium phosphate and sodium acetate / ammonium carbonate as carbon source. In addition, Pareto charts and Response Surface were performed using the statistical software STATISTICA 7.0, in order to know the significant influence of study variables on metabolites production. Results showed that the concentration of nutrients in the mixotrophic cultures affect the production of metabolites, for the case of carbohydrates production, acetate, carbonate and phosphate had a positive effect on it. Regarding lipids production, when the culture media contained acetate, there was not any variable that influenced significantly, whereas for the cultivation with ammonium carbonate, nitrate and interactions carbonate-phosphate, nitratephosphate had a significant influence on production of this metabolite.

Keywords

• Mixotrophic cultures
• chlorella vulgaris
• nutrients
• carbohydrates
• lipids