The Growth Resources Enhancing Lipids for Bio-diesel Production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
View/ Open
Date
2014Author
Rotich, Bernard Kipkirui
Akunda, E
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The growth of the microalgae can be enhanced by optimizing the resources which will boost its growth rate and
lipid yield. These resources include growth conditions and nutrient concentration and availability. This study
sought to determine the effect of the growth resources of light, photoperiod, carbon dioxide and urea
concentration and nitrogen limitation on growth rate and lipid production in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.
Screening and isolation of the alga was carried out from samples collected from the Nairobi Dam
and grown in Modified Bold’s Basal Media. Various isolates of algae were collected and C. reinhardtii was
chosen as the candidate species. The results indicated an optimum growth at light intensity of 240 µmol m-2 s-1 in
an 18-hour photoperiod. The yield data on biomass of the alga grown at this photoperiod had a mean dry weight
of 53.5±1.29g after a 3 week growth period while a 6-hour photoperiod recorded 25±1.09g translating to daily
increase of 2.5g/day and 1.2g/day respectively. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii showed a tolerance response of 15%
CO2 concentration and a robust growth in urea of 2.4g/l, giving lipid yield of 4.9ml/g of the dry weight. Growth
in 1.2g/l of urea also gave a yield of 5ml/g of dry weight. The alga grown in 100gms of nitrogen gave a lipid
yield of 0.592g of in contrast to 0.102g for those grown in 250gms.These results showed that by optimizing these
growth resources a higher biomass density and lipid yield for bio-diesel production can be obtained from this
alga.
URI
http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JETP/article/view/16293http://hdl.handle.net/11295/85062