Enhanced biodiesel production in Neochloris oleoabundans by a semi-continuous process in two stage photobioreactors

Bioprocess Biosyst Eng. 2015 Jul;38(7):1415-21. doi: 10.1007/s00449-015-1383-x. Epub 2015 Mar 5.

Abstract

Under autotrophic conditions, highly productive biodiesel production was achieved using a semi-continuous culture system in Neochloris oleoabundans. In particular, the flue gas generated by combustion of liquefied natural gas and natural solar radiation were used for cost-effective microalgal culture system. In semi-continuous culture, the greater part (~80%) of the culture volume containing vegetative cells grown under nitrogen-replete conditions in a first photobioreactor (PBR) was directly transferred to a second PBR and cultured sequentially under nitrogen-deplete conditions for accelerating oil accumulation. As a result, in semi-continuous culture, the productivities of biomass and biodiesel in the cells were increased by 58% (growth phase) and 51% (induction phase) compared to the cells in batch culture, respectively. The semi-continuous culture system using two stage photobioreactors is a very efficient strategy to further improve biodiesel production from microalgae under photoautotrophic conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biofuels*
  • Biomass
  • Chlorophyta / metabolism*
  • Photobioreactors*

Substances

  • Biofuels