LIPID PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF CHLORELLA VULGARIS CULTIVATION SYSTEMS WITH NUTRI-COMP D MEDIUM

• Main Author: Firmandy Bukhari, Dwika
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/84785
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Chlorella vulgaris is a microalgae that comes from the genus Chlorella, it is an algae that has high potential for lipid production since it is easy to cultivate and it has high lipid yields. Microalgae has fast growth because of its efficient photosynthesis process, said efficiency is also responsible for microalgae’s promise as feedstock for bioproducts. Microalgae cultivation can be done using open systems such as open raceway ponds or closed systems such as photobioreactors. Open systems cultivate microalgae in conditions where the culture interacts directly with the environment; it is a system that has less control over the culture’s growth parameters. On the other hand, closed systems are cultivation systems that are closed from the environment with controlled growth parameters. A further performance evaluation of microalgae cultivation systems has to be done. In this research, Chlorella vulgaris will be cultivated in a 1 L photobioreactor, a 60 L photobioreactor, and a 500 L open raceway pond with a medium of Nutri-comp D. The cell density, dry weight, and pH of the culture will be determined every day. Furthermore, the culture will be harvested to enable lipid extraction from the culture. Lipids from the Chlorella vulgaris culture will be extracted by solvent extraction. Specific growth rate, doubling time, productivity, biomass yield, and lipid yield values of the culture will be used to determine a system’s performance. Based on the results of the research, the 500 L open raceway pond showed the best growth parameters with a specific growth value of 0,378 ± 0,009/day and a doubling time value of 1,83 ± 0,04 days. The 500 L open raceway pond also showed the best production parameters with a productivity value of 0,014 ± 0,018 g/L/day, biomass yield of 0,155 ± 0,029 g/L/day, and a lipid yield of 29,34 ± 0,37% (w/w). The research showed that the 500 L open raceway pond has the best lipid production performance out of the 3 systems