Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
Archana Dash and Rintu Banerjee
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
Microalgae are a promising alternative oil resource in recent time. These have higher biomass and lipid productivity per unit area than vegetable oils and the algae-based biodiesel combustion is essentially carbon neutral. High production cost, inefficient dewatering techniques, and poorly-developed extraction methods are three major bottlenecks of algae-based biodiesel production. Hence, algae-fungus co-culture can be a complementary consortium where increased biomass can be produced with enhanced lipid content and high bioflocculation efficiency. The carbon and nitrogen sources present in the medium will be conjointly utilized by the two microorganisms of widely different phylogenetic origin resulting in an increased oleaginous biomass production. In this study, a consortium of two oleaginous microorganisms, viz., Chlorella minutissima MCC27 and Aspergillus awamori were co-cultivated in a modified N 11 medium. The symbiosis and differential growth of Chlorella minutissima MCC27 and Aspergillus awamori in the co-cultivation system were analyzed under different growth conditions and compared with their axenic cultures. The growth of Chlorella minutissima MCC27 in co-culture was found to be 3.8 fold higher against the autotrophic axenic culture, while 1.5 fold higher than the mixotrophically grown axenic algal culture on the 6th day of incubation. Different carbon sources (glucose, glycerol and acetate) and nitrate sources (KNO3, urea and yeast extract) were evaluated for higher biomass yield. Synergistically, the effects of algae-fungi association on total lipid yield and FAME composition were investigated. Further, different pretreatment methods were screened for developing an efficient technology for maximum extraction of lipid from the consortial biomass.
Email: dasharchana85@gmail.com