Nutrients formulation to maximize Ankistrodesmus sp. microalgal cell biomass and lipid productivities

Abstract

Ankistrodesmus sp. belongs to a group of microalgae which plays a significant role in various applications. Availability of nutrients is one of the primary factors regulating the growth and development of microalgae. Twelve experiments were run to determine the optimum media formulation of significant nutrient components for maximum biomass and lipid productivities of Ankistrodesmus sp. IFRPD 1061 cultivation using Plackett- Burman design. All nutrients significantly affected biomass productivity. Highest lipid productivity may not only necessarily originate from biomass cells with highest lipid content but also depend on nutrient formulation of culture media. Microalgal cell growth rate plays a major role in biomass and lipid production. Some nutrients including phosphorus and sodium did not significantly affect lipid productivity, therefore, optimizing nutrient contents could be applied to further scale-up microalgal production.