Abstract

Phytoplankton is a good option to obtain oil for biodiesel production and some marine diatoms contained up to 20% of lipids. Based on this, we evaluated mediums limited in nitrogen and silicate to enhance the production of lipids by Chaetoceros muelleri at laboratory condition. The cultures were made by quadruplicate in carboys (20 L). Three treatments (T1 with a reduction of 75% of nitrates; T2 with a reduction of 75% of silicate and T3with a reduction of 75% of nitrate and silicate from medium f/2) and a Control (C) consisted of medium f/2, were evaluated. In general, cell density and dry biomass were higher in the control; however, the lipid content was greater in the treatments (24 to 34%), when compared to the control (15%). Similarly the production of lipids by cell was higher in the treatments (20 to 42 pcg/cell) as compared to the control (16 pcg/cell), while the production by volume was similar among treatments and control. The fatty acid profile was different between treatments and control; a high proportion of saturated and less of poly unsaturated fatty acids were found in the media limited in nutrients. The results of the study suggest that C. muelleri, may be a good-potential specie to produce bio-combustibles due to its high content of lipid when cultured in media reduced in nitrogen and silicates at low production costs.

Keywords:

Biodiesel, chaetoceros muelleri, limited mediums, lipids, nitrate, silicate,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.