Effects of palm oil mill effluent media on cell growth and lipid content of Nannochloropsis oculata and Tetraselmis suecica

ABSTRACT

In this study, palm oil mill effluent (POME) was used as an alternative medium for algal biomass and lipid production. The influence of different concentrations of filtered and centrifuged POME in sea water (1, 5, 10 and 15%) on microalgal cell growth and lipid yield were investigated. Both Nannochloropsis oculata and Tetraselmis suecica had enhanced cell growth and lipid accumulation at 10% POME with maximum specific growth rate (0.21 d^–1 and 0.20 d^–1) and lipid content (39.1 ± 0.73% and 27.0 ± 0.61%), respectively, after 16 days of flask cultivation. The total Saturated Fatty Acid (SFA) (59.24%, 68.74%); Monounsaturated Fatty Acid (MUFA) (15.14%, 12.26%); and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) (9.07%, 8.88%) were obtained for N. oculata and T. suecica, respectively, at 10% POME. Algal cultivation with POME media also enhanced the removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) (93.6–95%), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) (96–97%), Total Organic Compound (TOC) (71–75%), Total Nitrogen (TN) (78.8–90.8%) and oil and grease (92–94.9%) from POME.

KEYWORDS:

• Lipid content
• microalgae
• Nannochloropsis oculata
• palm oil mill effluent
• Tetraselmis suecica
• wastewater

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS for providing facilities and for the scholarship to Syed Muhammad Usman Shah and Ashfaq Ahmad.

Funding

Funding through the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/2/2010/TK/UTP/02/14) is acknowledged.

Additional information

Funding

Funding through the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/2/2010/TK/UTP/02/14) is acknowledged.