Kshipra Gautam*, Ashwani Pareek and Durlubh K Sharma
In the present study, ten waste nutrient sources namely potato peels, banana peels, cow dung, press mud, molasses, bagasse hydrolysate, glycerol, succinate, cheese whey and cyanobacterial spent media extract were used for the growth of five potential green algal species namely C. reinhardtii, S. obliquus, C. vulgaris, C. minutissima and B. braunii. The nutrient extracts were prepared so as to not interfere with algal biomass harvesting. The effect of waste nutrients was investigated especially on the biomass and lipid accumulation in algae. The lipids so produced were quantified gravimetrically and analyzed using GC-MS and proton NMR. As a result, all the microalgal species showed enhancement in their growth and lipid production with most of the waste nutrients. C. reinhardtii showed maximum increase in lipid production with potato peels (89%) and banana peels (90%). However, a maximum of 130% increase in biomass content was observed in C. vulgaris with glycerol supplementation. 1H-NMR and GC-MS studies showed that carbon supplementation leads to reduction in the aromaticity of lipids and increase in the C16 and C18 fatty acids fractions, respectively rendering it more suitable for biodiesel production.
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