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

DAMIANI, MARIA CECILIA; POPOVICH, CECILIA; CONSTENLA, DIANA; MARTINEZ, A. MARÍA; LONGONI, P; NIELSEN, E; LEONARDI PATRICIA INES

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYCOLOGY

SPRINGER

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

0921-8971

A detailed lipid characterization of Scenedesmusacutus PVUW12, with emphasis on the evaluation of triacylglycerols(TAGs) as a biodiesel feedstock, is presented.Whenalgal cells were grown in nitrogen-free medium (N stress), alipid increase was detected that was mainly due to TAG accumulation. In situ fluorescence measurements allowedthe kinetics and extent of neutral lipid accumulation to befollowed. Under N stress, the productivity of total lipids and TAGs increased significantly (80.99 and 63.74 mg L−1 day−1,respectively) compared with controls (29.51 and16.23 mg L−1 day−1, respectively). Monounsaturated fattyacids were the major fraction and increased further(49.74 %) in stressed cells, with oleic acid as the most abundantcompound (46.97 %). The polyunsaturated fatty acid composition of this algal oil appears to meet the EuropeanStandard EN 14214. These results indicate that S. acutus oilmeets 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 integratedsystem combined with biofuel production.