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Effects of shear rate, photoautotrophy and photoheterotrophy on production of biomass and pigments by Chlorella vulgaris
Author(s) -
BenaventeValdés Juan Roberto,
MéndezZavala Alejandro,
MoralesOyervides Lourdes,
Chisti Yusuf,
Montañez Julio
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.5256
Subject(s) - photobioreactor , chlorella vulgaris , biomass (ecology) , carotenoid , productivity , botany , biology , autotroph , food science , algae , ecology , bacteria , macroeconomics , economics , genetics
BACKGROUND This work compared the production of Chlorella vulgaris biomass and pigments (chlorophylls and carotenoids) in photoautotrophic, photoheterotrophic and two‐stage photoheterotrophic–photoautotrophic cultures in two types of photobioreactors, a flat‐panel airlift (FPA) and a conventional stirred tank (STR) system. RESULTS The biomass and pigments productivities of photoheterotrophic and photoheterotrophic–photoautotrophic cultures were much greater than the productivity of photoautotrophic culture in the FPA. The 3.9‐fold higher average shear rate values in the FPA relative to the STR affected the size of the algal cells, but not the final biomass concentration. The two‐stage photoheterotrophic–photoautotrophic culture in the FPA had nearly 48% higher biomass productivity than the photoheterotrophic culture in the same device but offered no advantage in terms of production of the pigments. CONCLUSIONS The FPA and the STR offer very different culture environments which affect an algal culture; a two‐stage culture was more productive in biomass than a photoautotrophic culture but not for pigments production. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry