Microalgae of Odisha Coast as a Potential Source for Biodiesel Production

Abstract

In recent years microalgae have been proved as the potential source for biodiesel production due to high oil content. In the present study three brackish water microalgal strains (Chlorococcum sp., Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp.) of Odisha coast were screened for the suitability for biodiesel production. Among all, Scenedesmus sp. seems to be the best one for high lipid productivity (24.66mg/L / day) with high biomass yield of 0.9g/L at stationary phase. Also the Scenedesmus sp. possesses the most adequate fatty acid profile. The present study suggested that Scenedesmus sp. is appropriate for biodiesel production for its high lipid content; this strain was selected for higher scale studies.

Impact of nitrogen regime on fatty acid profiles of Desmodesmus quadricaudatus and Chlorella sp. and ability to produce biofuel

“…High maximum growth rate is an indication for favourable growth conditions. Jena et al (2012) obtained that the specific growth rate for both Chlorella and Scenedesmus sp. was 0.38 d -1…”

“…Jena et al (2012) obtained that Scenedesmus sp. produced 36.5% saturated fatty acid and 63.5% unsaturated fatty acid.…”

“…and Scenedesmus sp. after Jena et al (2012), in the present study, C2+N indicates Chlorella sp. grown in culture contain 1.5 g NaNO 3 l -1…”

“…The unsaturated fatty acids, linolenic acid (18.3) was the most dominant fatty acid (26.3%) besides the PUFA, oleic acid (18:1, 15.1%) and palmitic acid (16:0, 24.5%) were the principal fatty acids in Chlorella sp. (Jena et al 2012) (Table 3). Thomas et al (1984) recorded that at low concentration of nitrogen Chlorella synthesised saturated (16:0) and monounsaturated (18:1) fatty acids, whereas at high nitrogen concentrations the 16:2, 16:3, 16:4 and 18:2 fatty acids predominated.…”

“…Further, given that most oil is produced during a "starvation" or "stress" phase, successful fatty acid production will require species that can be reliably manipulated, is tolerant of a range of environmental perturbations -natural and operator induced -and is able to "recover" from these alterations and continue growing (Jena et al 2012). It is important to possess data on how the nitrogen starvation can influence the profile of produced fatty acids so the various fatty acid profiles of the different sources can be used for production, such as biodiesel fuel.…”