Bioprospecting of Three Rapid-Growing Freshwater Green Algae, Promising Biomass for Biodiesel Production
2019
Santhakumaran, Prasanthkumar | Kookal, Santhosh Kumar | Mathew, Linu | Ray, Joseph George
Discovery of high-yielding microalgae rich in valuable lipids, proteins, pigments, or carbohydrates is essential to the growth of nutraceutical and biofuel industries. Therefore, bioprospecting of microalgae from diverse environmental conditions has become highly significant to meet the demand of such bioresources globally. In this context, bioprospecting of three species of microalgae isolated from bloomed freshwaters of Kerala, India, was carried out; morphological and molecular characterizations revealed two of the algae as new species to science and named accordingly. The industrial potentials of these algae (Fasciculochloris boldii (MH992105.1), Sphaerocystis antoni-kadavilaii Ray & Prasanth sp. nov. (MK005299.1), and Chlorella zachariaii Ray & Prasanth sp. nov. (MH930447.1)) were assessed in terms of biomass yield and biochemical profile. The alga Sphaerocystis antoni-kadavilaii with a biomass yield of 176.8 ± 2.0% increase L⁻¹ day⁻¹, lipid productivity of 4.4 ± 0.3 mg L⁻¹ day⁻¹, the protein content of 46.1%, is found promising, in comparison with the known species such as Spirulina sp. and Chlorella sp. It is high in chlorophyll a, and total carotenoid content as well. The alga Fasciculochloris boldii showed high lipid content of 26.8 ± 1.1% and the alga Chlorella zachariaii showed 30.1% of omega-3 fractions in its total fatty acids. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed biodiesel feasibility of lipids from all these algae. However, the alga Fasciculochloris boldii with high proportions of saturated fatty acids in its lipid (71.2%) can be considered as a potential species for biodiesel as the biodiesel from the same also shows the required cetane number (63.3) and low iodine value (38.9).
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