Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2014, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (4): 181-186.

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Effects of Fe3+ on the Growth and Oil Content of Chlorella vulgaris for Biodiesel Production

Sun Yuan, Liu Wenbin, Zhou Tiezhu, Xie Tonghui, Liang Bin, Zhang Yongkui   

  1. (Department of Pharmaceutical & Biological Engineering,School of Chemical Engineering,Sichuan University,Chengdu 610065)
  • Received:2014-02-10 Online:2014-04-29 Published:2014-04-29

Abstract: Biodiesel is a clean renewable energy as the high quality substitute for traditional diesel. Chlorella vulgaris, used for biodiesel production, has been gaining the attention of the society because of its fast growth and high oil content. Iron ion could improve the growth and oil content of C. vulgaris. Effects of the concentration of Fe3+and the time to add Fe3+on the growth and oil content of autotrophic and heterotrophic C. vulgaris were explored in this study. The best conditions of Fe3+ were as follow:(1)10-3 g/L Fe3+ added in the lag phase of autotrophic C. vulgaris, biomass of 2.80 g/L and oil content of 30.90% were obtained, (2)10-5 g/L Fe3+ added in the exponential phase of heterotrophic C. vulgaris, biomass of 3.30 g/L and oil content of 29.05% were obtained. And the oil produced by C. vulgaris under autotrophic and heterotrophic conditions was an ideal feedstock for biodiesel production.

Key words: Chlorella vulgaris, Fe3+, Autotrophy, Heterotrophy, Growth, Oil content