Triacylglycerol content, productivity and fatty acid profile in Scenedesmus acutus PVUW12

DAMIANI, M. C; POPOVICH , C. A.; CONSTENLA, D.; MARTINEZ, A. M.; FREIJE, R. H; DORIA, E.; LONGONI, P; NIELSEN, E.; LEONARDI, P. I.

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYCOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014 vol. 26 p. 1423 - 1430

0921-8971

A detailed lipid characterization of Scenedesmus acutus PVUW12, with emphasis on the evaluation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) as biodiesel feedstock is presented. When algal cells were grown in nitrogen-free medium (N-stress), a lipid increase was detected that was mainly due to TAG accumulation. In situ fluorescence measurements allowed following kinetics and extent of neutral lipid accumulation. Under N-stress, the productivity of total lipids and TAGs increased significantly (80.99 mg L-1 day-1 and 63.74 mg L-1 day-1, respectively) compared with controls (29.51 mg L-1 day-1and 16.23 mg L-1 day-1, respectively). Monounsaturated fatty acids were the major fraction and increased further (49.74%) in stressed cells with oleic acid as the most abundant compound (46.97%). Regarding polyunsaturated fatty acids composition, this algal oil appears to meet the European standard EN 14214. These results indicate that S. acutus oil meets the requirements for its use as a biodiesel feedstock. Since this strain was also proposed for wastewater bioremediation, this opens up the possibility of its use in an integrated system combined with biofuel production.