article · Scientific Reports
Cultivating the green microalga Monoraphidium braunii under nutrient limitations and salinity stress can enhance its lipid output for biodiesel production. Experimental findings show that depleting nitrogen and phosphorus reduces overall biomass, biomass productivity, and photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll and carotenoids. While low salt concentrations of up to 150 millimolar sodium chloride support biomass and pigment growth, higher concentrations decrease them. Crucially, applying nutrient starvation and salinity stress triggers more than a twofold increase in lipid accumulation and lipid productivity compared to baseline conditions. These stress environments also improve the fatty acid profile and the predicted quality parameters of the resulting fuel. The research demonstrates targeted small-scale cultivation techniques to manipulate microalgal composition for better fuel-related properties.
Finding viable alternatives to fossil fuels requires sustainable, high-yield biological feedstocks. Microalgae can provide renewable lipids for biofuel, but harvesting enough usable fuel remains difficult. Demonstrating that simple cultivation stresses like salt and nutrient limitation more than double lipid yields helps establish practical methods for improving microalgal fuel quality and feedstock efficiency.
This work could inform biofuel manufacturers and biotechnology operators seeking to optimise microalgal lipid yields. By applying controlled nutrient starvation and salinity adjustments, producers could boost fuel quality and output. The findings represent early-stage research, as the experiments were conducted strictly on a small scale in vitro and require validation in scaled production systems.
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Microalgal lipids are precursors to the production of biodiesel, as well as a source of valuable dietary components in the biotechnological industries. So, this study aimed to assess the effects of nutritional (nitrogen, and phosphorus) starvations and salinity stress (NaCl) on the biomass, lipid content, fatty acids profile, and predicted biodiesel properties of green microalga Monoraphidium braunii. The results showed that biomass, biomass productivity, and photosynthetic pigment contents (Chl. a, b, and carotenoids) of M. braunii were markedly decreased by nitrogen and phosphorus depletion and recorded the maximum values in cultures treated with full of N and P concentrations (control, 100%). These parameters were considerably increased at the low salinity level (up to 150 mM NaCl), while an increasing salinity level (up to 250 mM NaCl) reduces the biomass, its productivity, and pigment contents. Nutritional limitations and salt stress (NaCl) resulted in significantly enhanced accumulation of lipid and productivity of M. braunii, which represented more than twofold of the control. Furthermore, these conditions have enhanced the profile of fatty acid and biodiesel quality-related parameters. The current study exposed strategies to improve M. braunii lipid productivity for biodiesel production on a small scale in vitro in terms of fuel quality under low nutrients and salinity stress.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53216-8
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