Long-term culture of the marine dinoflagellate microalga Amphidinium carterae in an indoor LED-lighted raceway photobioreactor: Production of carotenoids and fatty acids.

The feasibility of the long-term (>170 days) culture of a dinoflagellate microalga in a raceway photobioreactor is demonstrated for the first time. Amphidinium carterae was chosen for this study as it is producer of interesting high-value compounds. Repeated semicontinuous culture provided to be a robust operational mode. Different concentration levels of the f/2 medium nutrients (i.e. f/2×1-3) were assayed. The composition f/2×3 (N:P = 5), combined with a sinusoidal irradiance pattern (L/D = 24:0) with a 570 µE m ^-2  s ^-1 daily mean irradiance, maximized the biomass productivity (2.5 g m ^-2  day ^-1 ) and production rate of the valuable carotenoid peridinin (19.4 ± 1.35 mg m ^-2  L ^-1 with nearly 1% of the biomass d.w.). Several carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were also present in significant percentages in the harvested biomass (EPA, 1.69 ± 0.31% d.w.; DHA, 3.47 ± 0.24% d.w.), which had an average P-molar formulate of C _40.7 O _21.2 H _73.9 N _3.9 S _0.3 P ₁ .
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