title: Chlorella vulgaris as a lipid source: Cultivation on air and seawater-simulating medium in a helicoidal photobioreactor.
abstract: The freshwater microalga Chlorella vulgaris was cultured batchwise on the seawater-simulating Schlösser medium either in a 1.1-L-working volume helicoidal photobioreactor (HeP) or Erlenmeyer flask (EF) as control and continuously supplying air as CO2 source. In these systems, maximum biomass concentration reached 1.65 ± 0.17 g L(-1) and 1.25 ± 0.06 g L(-1) , and maximum cell productivity 197.6 ± 20.4 mg L(-1)  day(-1) and 160.8 ± 12.2 mg L(-1)  day(-1) , respectively. Compared to the Bold's Basal medium, commonly employed to cultivate this microorganism on a bench-scale, the Schlösser medium ensured significant increases in all the growth parameters, namely maximum cell concentration (268% in EF and 126% in HeP), maximum biomass productivity (554% in EF and 72% in HeP), average specific growth rate (67% in EF and 42% in HeP), and maximum specific growth rate (233% in EF and 22% in HeP). The lipid fraction of biomass collected at the end of runs was analyzed in terms of both lipid content and fatty acid profile. It was found that the seawater-simulating medium, despite of a 56-63% reduction of the overall biomass lipid content compared to the Bold's Basal one, led in HeP to significant increases in both the glycerides-to-total lipid ratio and polyunsaturated fatty acid content compared to the other conditions taken as an average. These results as a whole suggest that the HeP configuration could be a successful alternative to the present means to cultivate C. vulgaris as a lipid source. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:279-284, 2016.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering (DICCA), University of Genoa, Genoa, 16145, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frumento
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering (DICCA), University of Genoa, Genoa, 16145, Italy.
authors.forename: Bahar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aliakbarian
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering (DICCA), University of Genoa, Genoa, 16145, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro Alberto
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Casazza
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering (DICCA), University of Genoa, Genoa, 16145, Italy.
authors.forename: Attilio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Converti
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Chemical Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11421, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Saleh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al Arni
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Pernambuco, Biological Science Center, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil.
authors.forename: Milena Fernandes
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D018533:Biomass; D048408:Chlorella vulgaris / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D058433:Photobioreactors; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008055:Lipids
keywords: Chlorella vulgaris; Schlösser medium; fatty acids; lipids; microalgae