Chlorella vulgaris cultivation in photobioreactor using municipal wastewater for biofuel

Abstract

Microalgae, with their potential applications, particularly in food industry and Livestock feed as well as biofuel, has gained considerable attention in recent decades. As their culture using commercial media is expensive, an integrated approach using municipal wastewater is considered for simultaneous biomass production. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the growth and biochemical composition of the green microalgae Chlorella vulgaris grown in municipal wastewater. Cultures in vertical column photobioreactor in outdoor/indoor conditions were also compared. C. vulgaris showed significantly higher (P <0.05) cell density, biomass, specific growth rate, lipid and carbohydrate in indoor culture condition than outdoor comparatively. Saturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids containing 14-18 carbon molecules were significantly higher (P <0.05) in indoor culture. The result suggests that wastewater could be used as a low cost medium to grow C. vulgaris to obtain higher biomass and lipids.