Abstract
In thediversification of the world's energy portfolio, microalgaebiofuels have gained particularattention as a means of providing carbon-neutral hydrocarbon-basedfuels. The progress on this front has been hindered because of expensive and unreliable microalgae cultivation systems,where the preparationof synthetic culture media poses a monetary strain. This study aims to investigate a new microalgae growth media thatis readily available andcost-effective.The new microalgaefertilizer-basedmedia (FBM) were designed andcompared withBold Basal media (BBM)in terms of growth parameters, production of lipid and value-added algal by-products (carotenoid andphycobiliprotein).The growth parameters such as cell count and specific growth rate were investigated for FBM and BBM. FBM showeda significant growth rateof7 million/mL-perdayas compared to2 million/ml per day.A similar growth trend was observed for chlorophyll (a), (b)and carotenes which increased to the values of 5microgram/gram formula weight(μg/gfw), 3μg/gfwand 2μg/gfwfor FBM. On the other hand, lipid and phycobiliprotein showed a decrease of 18.75% and 16.66%,respectively,compared to BBM.Even though some growth parameters are negatively affected by fertilizer-basedmedia, the cost reductionis substantial to allow this drawback to be overlooked.The medium's costis reduced by a factor of 7 and provides ground for the use of the FBMin the large-scalecultivationof algae for biomass production
Muneeb Qayyum, Asif Hussain Khoja1,, Salman Raza Naqvi2, *, , Haider Ejaz1, , A zra Nawar1,, Abeera Ayaz. (2020) Development of cost-effective fertilizer-based media for the microalgae cultivation aimed at effective biomass production, NUST Journal of Engineering Sciences , Volume 13, Issue 2.
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