Biomass and Lipid Productivities of Cyanobacteria- Leptolyngbya foveolarum HNBGU001.

The initial biomass density had a significant effect on the growth behaviour of Leptolyngbya foveolarum HNBGU-001 in the batch culture. The test organism produced substantial amounts of biomass and lipids when allowed to grow at 40 °C and pH 8.0. The Placket-Burman design appropriately indicated the positive and negative influences of the tested nutrient factors on biomass and lipid productivities of L. foveolarum. Employing the Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology, the elevated concentrations of sulphate-S (300 mg/L) and carbonate-C (45.39 mg/L) but relatively low levels of phosphate-P (10 mg/L) and nitrate-N (375 mg/L) were identified as the optimal nutritional requirements of the test organism for the maximum lipid productivity (49.60 ± 0.70 mg/L/day) along with high lipid content (32.10 ± 0.40% dry cell weight) and biomass productivity (154.80 ± 3.60 mg/L/day). These maximized responses of biomass productivity, lipid content, and lipid productivity were respectively 2.8-, 2.4-, and 6.8-fold higher than their corresponding values under the unoptimized conditions. FAME analysis of lipids obtained from the test organism revealed some promising features for their use as algal biodiesel feedstock. Nonetheless, the test organism seems to have better potential than several other microalgae for use in biofuel production as it can give a high output of biomass as also lipids at elevated temperature prevalent in outdoor conditions of subtropical and tropical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]