Carbohydrates in Ankistrodesmus braunii biomass cultivated in tubular photobioreactors

• Main Authors: Ana Lucía Morocho-Jácome, Marcello Dapievi Bresaola, João Carlos Monteiro de Carvalho, Marisa Nicolai, Catarina Rosado, André Rolim Baby
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ALIES - Associação Lusófona para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação e do Ensino das Ciências da Saúde 2017-12-01
• Series: Journal Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Research (BBR)
• Subjects: Ankistrodesmus braunii; carbohydrates; tubular photobioreactor
• Online Access: http://www.alies.pt/BBR%20Editions/Vol-14-2-2017/art12.pdf

The great need for microalgae biomass production in tubular photobioreactors has increased for use in biofuels, pharmaceuticals and even cosmetic applications. In order to better understand the potential applications of this material, it is imperative to know in detail its composition. Ankistrodesmus braunii was cultivated in 3.5 L tubular air-lift photobioreactors using 10 mM sodium nitrate as nitrogen source in batch mode at 60 µmol photons m-2 s-1. The maximum biomass concentration (Xm) and the biomass productivity (PX) reached at 6th day of cultivation was 1249 ± 72 mg L-1 and 165 ± 13 mg L-1 d-1, respectively. Carbohydrates productivity expressed in terms of glucose, galactose and glucose+galactose (1:1) were 2.57 ± 0.04, 4.12 ± 0.06 and 3.22 ± 0.05 mg L-1 d-1, respectively. Results show a statistical difference that was found between carbohydrate productivity values expressed as glucose, galactose and glucose+galactose (1:1).