earticle

영어

Depending on the species, microalgae produce many different kinds of lipids, hydrocarbons and other complex oils. The biomass and overall lipid productivities are some of the key parameters affecting the economic feasibility of utilizing algal oil for biofuel production. Therefore, an ideal process should be able to produce lipid at the highest productivity with the high biomass concentration, which can be modulated by varying growth conditions. Botryococcus braunii, a green microalga that produces lipid and hydrocarbons by itself, has already been proposed as a future renewable source of fuel. However, Botryococcus braunii is very slow growing strain that compared with the others. In this present study, the biotechnological exploitation for growth and lipid production of this microalga has been carried out. Statistical optimization of culture conditions was performed for faster growth and to obtain a higher concentration of lipid from Botryococcus braunii LB572. The effect of culture conditions such as light intensity, flow rate and CO2 concentration on cell growth and lipid production was examined with bubble column photobioreactors using a central composite design. The optimum points obtained for light intensity were 50 μE/m2/s, with 2% (v/v) CO2 at a flow rate of 0.2 vvm. Using the above optimal culture conditions, lipid productivity of B. braunii LB572 reached 0.181 g/L/day and 60% w/w with an average biomass productivity of 0.302 g/L/day.