Growth of Cyanobacterium aponinum influenced by increasing salt concentrations and temperature

The increasing requirement of food neutral biofuels demands the detection of alternative sources. The use of non-arable land and waste water streams is widely discussed in this regard. A Cyanobacterium was isolated on the area of a possible algae production side near a water treatment plant in the arid desert region al-Wusta. It was identified as Cyanobacterium aponinum PB1 and is a possible lipid source. To determine its suitability of a production process using this organism, a set of laboratory experiments were performed. Its growth behavior was examined in regard to high temperatures and increasing NaCl concentrations. A productivity of 0.1 g L−1 per day was measured at an alga density below 0.75 g L−1. C. aponinum PB1 showed no sign of altered growth behavior in media containing 70 g L−1 NaCl or less. Detection of a negative effect of NaCl on the growth using Pulse-Amplitude-Modulation chlorophyll fluorescence analysis was not more sensitive than optical density measurement.