High Lipid Content in Unicellular Green Alga Asteracys sp. FFP40 Isolated from Food Industrial Wastewater in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

Green algae are photoautotrophic and photoheterotrophic microorganisms that are capable of lipid production. This study aims to isolate green algae from food industrial wastewater in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province. Thirty isolates of green algae were isolated from wastewater of four food industrial plants. Lipid content under cultivated cells in N-deprivation Tris Acetate Phosphate TAP(-N) medium was measured in order to select the green algae that had the highest lipid production. The results found that among 30 green algal strains, the green alga Asteracys sp. FFP40 showed the highest lipid content of 2.884±0.064 % (w/w) under cultivated cells in TAP(-N) medium for 3 days. During photoheterotrophic cultivation in TAP medium, Asteracys sp. FFP40 was rapidly grown to the stationary growth phase after 48h. The biomass of Asteracys sp. FFP40 was continuously increased and reached to 0.966±0.115 mg ml-1 after 120h of cultivation. Finally, Asteracys sp. FFP40 also provided the highest lipid content of 58.446±0.652 % (w/w) under cultivated cells in TAP(-N) medium for 28 days. These results indicated that Asteracys sp. FFP40 could be a source of highly efficient lipid production for biodiesel evolution in the future.