Utilization of lipid extracted algal biomass and sugar factory wastewater for algal growth and lipid enhancement of Ettlia sp.

Abstract

The present study assessed the use of hydrolysate of lipid extracted algal biomass (LEA) combined with the sugar factory wastewater (SFW) as a low cost nutrient and a carbon source, respectively for microalgal cultivation. Microalgal strain Ettlia sp. was both mixotrophically and heterotrophically cultivated using various amounts of hydrolysate and SFW. The culture which was grown in medium containing 50% LEA hydrolysate showed highest growth, achieving 5.26 +/- 0.14 g L-1 after 12 days of cultivation. The addition of SFW increased the lipid productivity substantially from 5.8 to 95.5 mg L-1 d(-1) when the culture medium was fortified with 20% SFW. Gas chromatography analysis indicated a noticeable increase of 20% in C16 and C18 fraction in FAME distribution under above condition. Therefore, it can be concluded that the combination of LEA hydrolysate and sugar factory waste water can be a powerful growth medium for economical algal cultivation.