Agriculture fertilizer-based media for cultivation of marine microalgae destined for biodiesel production

Abstract

In recent years, biodiesel from microalgae has received large interest around the world, as sustainable energy for biofuel production. Mineral fertilizers can be a promising source for the development of low cost culture media. We investigate the influence of fertilizer-based media: MAP, TSP, Phosphoric acid and Ammonitrate on cell viability, nutrients uptake, biomass, lipids production and lipids profile of 3 microalgae strains. The best biomass production was 2.105 g L-1, 1.95g.L-1 and 1.75g.L-1 for D. tertiolecta, Isochrysis sp.and Tetraselmis sp cultured in TSP, MAP and H3PO4(54%)based-media respectively, compared to control medium (1.85, 1.76 and 1.71 g L-1 respectively). Lipid content of all strains in fertilizer-based media was similar to control. The lipid profile showed that FAMEs of all microalgae underwent a significant reduction in PUFAs for fertilizers based-media, which improves the quality of biodiesel. Mineral fertilizers are a promising source that can be a low-cost microalgae production base at the industrial level.