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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.17, 135-144
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
135
Research Article Open Access
Effect of Temperature and Nutrient Limitation on the Growth and Lipid
Content of Three Selected Microalgae (
Dunaliella tertiolecta
,
Nannochloropsis
sp.
and
Scenedesmus
sp.) for Biodiesel Production
Nita Rukminasari
Department of Fisheries, Marine Science and Fisheries Faculty, Hasanuddin University, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km. 10, Makassar-90245, South Sulawesi–
Indonesia
Corresponding author email: nitasari_02@hotmail.com
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.17 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0017
Received: 18 Mar., 2013
Accepted: 07 Apr., 2013
Published: 12 Apr., 2013
Copyright
©
2013 Rukminasari, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Rukminasari, 2013, Effect of Temperature and Nutrient Limitation on the Growth and Lipid Content of Three Selected Microalgae (
Dunaliella tertiolecta
,
Nannochloropsis
sp. and
Scenedesmus
sp.) for Biodiesel Production, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.17 135
-
144 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0017)
Abstract
Microalgae is one of potential source for biodiesel due to high efficiency of solar energy conversion to chemical energy.
Several microalgae also have high lipid content per dry weight of biomass. The aims of the present work to study the effects of
temperature and nutrient depletion on the growth and lipid content of three selected microalgae (
Dunaliella tertiolecta
,
Nannochloropsis sp
and
Scenedesmus sp
) in view of their possible utilization as raw materials for biodiesel production. In addition,
various lipid analysis methods were applied, such as gravimetric, Nile Red staining and FTIR spectroscopy. Algal growth and lipid
content was strongly influenced by the variation of tested parameters; indeed, an increase or decrease temperature from ambient
temperature and nutrient depletion practically increase in lipid content. Nile Red staining and FTIR spectroscopy are effective tool to
analyze rapidly of lipid content from selected microalgae.
Keywords
Biodiesel;
Dunaliella tertiolecta
;
Scenedesmus
sp.;
Nannochloropsis
sp.; Lipid; Nile Red staining; FTIR spectroscopy
1 Introduction
Nowadays, the global energy system is predominantly
based on utilization of fossil fuels, coal oil and natural
gas. This system has several problems, such as: 1) it
creates pollution on local., regional and global scales,
2) the reserves of fossil fuel are limited while on the
other hand the demand for fossil fuel increases
dramatically with the increasing population as a
consequence creating a global energy crisis and 3)
fossil fuel produces greenhouse gas emissions (NO
x
,
CO
2
and SO
x
) that cause global warming and climate
change problems (Barbir, 2009).
For the past ten years, fuel production from biomass
(biofuel) has received considerable attention from
researchers and scientists as it is a biodegradable,
renewable and non-toxic fuel (Mutanda et al., 2010).
Biofuel based on vegetable oil, bioethanol and
biodiesel represent promising energy sources to
displace fossil fuel (Lardon et al., 2009). Biodiesel
from microalgae seems to be a promising renewable
biofuel that has the potential to completely displace
petroleum-derived transport fuel without adversely
affecting the supply of food and other crop products
(Chisti, 2008). Shay (1993) reported that algae were
one of the best sources of biodiesel. In fact algae are
the highest yielding feed stock for biodiesel. It can
produce up to 250 times the amount of oil per acre as
soybean and could produce 500 to 1 500 gallons of
biodiesel per acre per year in open ponds (Shehan et
al., 1998). Algae produce 7 to 31 times greater yields
of oil than palm oil due to their ability to accumulate
lipid and their very high actual photosynthetic yield:
about 3%~8% of solar energy can be converted to
biomass whereas observed yields for terrestrial plants
are about 0.5% (Hossain et al., 2008; Lardon et al.,
2009; Huntley et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008). Microalgae
are estimated to produce biomass greater than the
fastest growing terrestrial plant with a rate account for
50 times (Li et al., 2008). In addition microalgae also
have a varies lipid content of 1%~85% by dry weight
(Chisti, 2007; Sheehan et al., 1998; Rodolfi et al.,
2009). Biodiesel yield depends strongly upon the lipid
content of the algal strain. Some algal strains can
contain lipid up to 60% of dry mass (Shehan et al.,
1997; Chisti, 2007). Algal oils are usually accumulated