Enhanced Carbon Dioxide Fixation and Bio-oil Production of a Microalgal Consortium

• Main Authors: Boonma S., Chaiklangmuang S., Chaiwongsar S., Pekkoh J., Pumas C., Ungsethaphand T., Tongsiri S., Peerapornpisal Y.
• Format: Article
• Published: Wiley-VCH Verlag 2015
• Subjects: Environmental Chemistry; Water Science and Technology; Pollution
• Online Access: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84929347394&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/handle/6653943832/38958
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. In this study, a microalgal consortium was cultivated with different CO<inf>2</inf> supplements: ambient air (0.03% CO<inf>2</inf>), 10 and 30% (v/v) CO<inf>2</inf>. It was found that the growth rate of the cultures supplemented with 30% CO<inf>2</inf> was the highest among the others. The biomass and lipid productivity for the microalgal consortium with 30% CO<inf>2</inf> were 21.1 and 4.8mgL^-1day^-1 (27.6% of dry weight, dw). The ability of CO<inf>2</inf> fixation under 30% CO<inf>2</inf> supplementation was found to be 0.0271gCO<inf>2</inf>L^-1day^-1, which is higher than in the ambient air supplementation. Then, the microalgal consortium was cultivated with exhaust gas (19% CO<inf>2</inf>) from a power generator supplied by biogas from chicken manure. It was found that the growth of the microalgae supplemented with exhaust gas was higher than in the ambient air. The biomass and lipid productivity for the microalgal consortium with exhaust gas were 25.82 and 5.2mgL^-1day^-1 (16.96% of dw) and the most dominant algal species observed were Acutodesmus (Scenedesmus) sp., A. dimorphus (Turpin) Tsarenko and Scenedesmus obliquus (Turpin) Kützing, respectively. Moreover, it could be revealed that the ability of CO<inf>2</inf> fixation under supplementations with exhaust gas increased 1.3-fold compared with ambient air. Therefore, the microalgal consortium has high potential for both CO<inf>2</inf> reduction and bio-oil production, simultaneously.