Cultivation of Chlorella sp. HQ in inland saline-alkaline water under different light qualities

Abstract

• Optimal growth of Chlorella in inland saline-alkaline water was achieved by blue LED.

• Lipids of Chlorella sp. HQ were mainly composed of C16:0 and C18:2 under various LEDs.

• The BiodieselAnalyzer^© software was used to evaluate the Chlorella biodiesel quality.

• Chlorella sp. HQ was a high-quality feedstock for biodiesel production.

Inland saline-alkaline water can be used for the low-cost cultivation of microalgae, but whether algal biomass under various light sources has the potential to produce biodiesel remains to be developed. Herein, the influence of different light-emitting diode (LEDs) light colors (blue, red, white, mixed blue-red, and mixed blue-white LED) on the growth performance, lipid accumulation, and fatty acid composition of Chlorella sp. HQ cultivated in inland saline-alkaline water was investigated. The highest algal density was obtained under blue LEDs at the end of cultivation, reaching 1.93±0.03 × 10⁷ cells/mL. White LEDs can improve biomass yield, total lipid yield, and triacylglycerol yield per algal cell. The main fatty acid components of Chlorella from inland saline-alkaline water were palmitic acid and linoleic acid. The BiodieselAnalyzer^© software was used to predict algal biodiesel quality by estimating different quality parameters. The cetane number, kinematic viscosity, and density of Chlorella biodiesel were 51.714–67.69, 3.583–3.845 mm²/s, and 0.834–0.863 g/cm³, respectively. This further proved that the Chlorella biomass obtained from inland saline-alkaline water has the potential to be used as a high-quality biodiesel feedstock.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Light quality / Chlorella / Inland saline-alkaline water / Fatty acid / Biodiesel property

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