Effect of Light Intensity, CO₂ Gas Concentration, Culturing Period and Walne Nutrient Concentrations on Biomass and Lipid Productivity of Chlorella vulgaris in Sea Water Media

Department of Chemical Engineering, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Surabaya

^* Corresponding author: szulle@chem-eng.its.ac.id, szullehakim@gmail.com

Abstract

The biomass and lipid productivity of Chlorella vulgaris cultured in sea water media were conducted in this study. The effect of light intensity (5000 and 10000 lux), CO₂ gas concentration (0.03%, 1% and 2%), culturing period (7 and 17 days) and walne nutrient concentrations (0%, 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.3%) on biomass and lipid productivity of C. vulgaris cultured in photobioreactor were studied systematically. The biomass and lipid productivity were increased with increasing light intensity and CO₂ gas concentration. Longer culturing period, C. vulgaris produced more biomass and lipid content. However, biomass and lipid productivity at shorter cultured period were higher than longer cultured period. The highest biomass productivity of 139 mg/L/d was obtained under the following condition: light intensity = 10000 lux, CO₂ gas concentration = 2%, culturing period = 7 days, and walne nutrient concentration = 0.3%. The highest lipid productivity of 40.68 mg/L/d was obtained under the following condition: light intensity = 10000 lux, CO₂ gas concentration = 2%, culturing period = 7 days, and walne nutrient concentration = 0.005%. This study shows that a microalga C. vulgaris was a potential candidate as a source of biodiesel production.