Assessment of a Novel Algal Strain Chlamydomonas debaryana NIREMACC03 for Mass Cultivation, Biofuels Production and Kinetic Studies

Abstract

A novel microalgae strain Chlamydomonas debaryana (KJ210856) was isolated from a freshwater lake of Punjab, India, and cultivated considering climatic sustainability and inherent adaptability concern. C. debaryana was grown in a 30-L indoor photobioreactor to study the mass cultivation prospect and biofuel potential. Physicochemical characterization of biomass and the lipid was performed with effect to nitrogen stress. It showed a higher biomass yield (1.58 ± 0.02 g L(-1), dry weight) and twofold increase in lipid yield (552.78 ± 9 mg L(-1)) with 34.2 ± 0.19 % lipid content under nitrogen deficient condition. Strikingly, increase in triglycerides achieved with nitrogen depletion containing over 96 % of total fatty acids (C 14, C 16, and C 18). Proximate and ultimate analysis suggested the presence of relatively higher volatile matter and carbon-hydrogen ratio. Furthermore, lower moisture and ash content signified C. debaryana biomass has promising features towards biofuel applications. The pyrolytic behavior of the whole biomass was also studied using thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and kinetic parameters were estimated using different methods. Promising growth rate and lipid yield leading to feasible biofuel feed stock production in indoor photobioreactor along with autosediment potential of cells validates C. debaryana NIREMACC03, a potential strain for mass cultivation.

Toxicology and digestibility of Chlamydomonas debaryana green algal biomass

“…There is a dearth of toxicological data related to members of the order Chlamydomonadales, and to our knowledge, ours is the first investigation of the genetic and oral toxicity of C. debaryana . In fact, there are very few publications, related to C. debaryana (or E. debaryana ) in general, with most of the published literature, beyond basic science, focused on applications such as its potential uses as a source of biofuel (Arora et al, 2016; Mishra et al, 2015; Sato & Toyoshima, 2021; Yoshitomi et al, 2020), a marker species for environmental contamination or a bioremediation agent (Arora et al, 2016; Chiellini et al, 2022; Lam et al, 2020), and the antioxidant potential of its lipid fraction (Avila‐Roman et al, 2016, 2018; de Los Reyes et al, 2014). Our investigations of TS04 were preceded by investigations of the genetic toxicity and subacute oral toxicity of the closely related species C. reinhardtii strain THN6 (THN6) (Murbach et al, 2018), as well as the subchronic oral toxicity and digestibility of a THN6 mutant that is rich in protoporphyrin IX (TAI114) at the expense of chlorophyll (Murbach et al, 2022).…”

“…There is a dearth of toxicological data related to members of the order Chlamydomonadales, and to our knowledge, ours is the first investigation of the genetic and oral toxicity of C. debaryana. In fact, there are very few publications, related to C. debaryana (or E. debaryana) in general, with most of the published literature, beyond basic science, focused on applications such as its potential uses as a source of biofuel (Arora et al, 2016;Mishra et al, 2015;Sato & Toyoshima, 2021;Yoshitomi et al, 2020), a marker species for environmental contamination or a bioremediation agent (Arora et al, 2016;Chiellini et al, 2022;Lam et al, 2020), and the antioxidant potential of its lipid fraction (Avila-Roman et al, 2016, 2018de Los Reyes et al, 2014).…”