Night illumination using monochromatic light-emitting diodes for enhanced microalgal growth and biodiesel production

Abd El-Fatah Abomohra; Hao Shang; Mostafa El-Sheekh; Hamed Eladel; Reham Ebaid; Shuang Wang; Qian Wang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121514

Night illumination using monochromatic light-emitting diodes for enhanced microalgal growth and biodiesel production

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Sep:288:121514. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121514. Epub 2019 May 19.

Authors

Abd El-Fatah Abomohra¹, Hao Shang², Mostafa El-Sheekh³, Hamed Eladel⁴, Reham Ebaid⁵, Shuang Wang⁶, Qian Wang²

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, 212013 Jiangsu, China; Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt.
² School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, 212013 Jiangsu, China.
³ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt.
⁴ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University, 13518 Benha, Egypt.
⁵ School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, 212013 Jiangsu, China.
⁶ School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, 212013 Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: alexjuven@ujs.edu.cn.

PMID: 31129520
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121514

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of monochromatic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the growth and biodiesel yield of the green microalga Scenedesmus obliquus. Different LEDs were applied individually or in combination during the night period. Among different individual treatments, red and blue illumination showed the highest biomass and lipid productivity due to stimulation of pigmentation and photosystem II, respectively. Microalgal growth, lipid production and biodiesel recovery significantly increased under combined blue-red illumination. In addition, saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids proportions increased in favor of polyunsaturated ones. Moreover, blue-red LEDs enhanced the net biodiesel energy output over the control. The total increase in net energy output represented 5.1, 3.8 and 10.8 MJ using red, blue and blue-red light, respectively. In conclusion, application of blue-red LEDs during the night period is an economical technology for microalgae cultivation, which might have a potential impact on the future of commercial biodiesel production from microalgae.

Keywords: Biodiesel; LEDs; Lipid productivity; Microalgae; Night illumination.

MeSH terms

Biofuels
Biomass
Light
Lighting
Microalgae*

Substances

Biofuels