Various methods, including autoclaving, bead-beating, microwaves, sonication, and a 10% NaCl solution, were tested to identify the most effective cell disruption method. The total lipids from Botryococcus sp., Chlorella vulgaris, and Scenedesmus sp. were extracted using a mixture of chloroform and methanol (1:1). The lipid contents from the three species were 5.4-11.9, 7.9-8.1, 10.0-28.6, 6.1-8...

The excretion of photoassimilated carbon was determined for 22 species of unicellular marine algae in culture during periods of log-phase growth and for some natural marine phytoplankton populations from Vineyard Sound and the Gulf of Maine. Carbon 14 tracers gave some information about the composition of the excreted material. Most of the algae excreted 3-6s of their photoassimilated carbon du...

This study investigated the biochemical suitability of Australian native microalgal species Scenedesmus sp., Nannochloropsis sp., Dunaliella sp., and a chlorophytic polyculture as nutritional supplements for human health. The four microalgal cultures were harvested during exponential growth, lyophilized, and analysed for proximate composition (moisture, ash, lipid, carbohydrates, and protein), ...

Chlorella vulgaris, is a kind of single-celled green algae, which could serve as a potential source of food and energy because of its photosynthetic efficiency. In our study, a pathogenic organism targeting C. vulgaris was discovered. The algae-lytic activity relates to a fraction from lysates of infected C. vulgaris that was blocked upon filtration through a 3 µm filter. 18S rRNA gene sequence...

This study tested the growth of three algal species (Chlorella sp., Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, and Tetraselmis suecica) using flue gas (generated by natural gas combustion). All the cultures showed poor biomass growth if they were exposed to continuous flue gas. To optimize the flue gas utilization in algal photo-bioreactors, we performed both model simulations and experimental analysis. First...

Open raceway ponds are cost-efficient for mass cultivation of microalgae compared with photobioreactors. Although low-cost options like wastewater as nutrient source is studied to overcome the commercialization threshold for biodiesel production from microalgae, a cost analysis on the use of wastewater and other incremental increases in productivity has not been elucidated. We determined the ef...

Using algae as a feedstock for biodiesel has been considered for a number of years, but it has always had limitations, due mainly to the production methods used to grow and harvest the algae. In this project, we propose a novel attached growth method to produce the algae while recycling dairy farm wastewater using the microalga Chlorella sp. The first part of the work provided a feasibility stu...

Nitrogen starvation is an efficient environmental pressure for increasing lipid accumulation in microalgae, but it could also significantly lower the biomass productivity, resulting in lower lipid productivity. In this study, green alga Chlorella sp. A2 was cultivated by using a minimal nitrogen supply strategy under both laboratory and outdoor cultivation conditions to evaluate biomass accumul...

Eight typical sampling sites were chosen to investigate the phytoplankton community structure and to assess the eutrophication degree of Baiyangdian Lake in 2009. Our results showed that among the total 133 species identified, Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, and Bacillariophyta dominated the phytoplankton community. In spring, Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta were the dominant phyla, and the dominant s...

Microalgae that can grow fast and convert solar energy into chemical energy efficiently are being considered as a promising feedstock of renewable biofuel. Mass production of microalgal oil faces a number of technical barriers that make the current production of biodiesel economically unfeasible. Small size (≈1-20 μm) and negatively charged surface of the microalgal cells pose difficulties in t...