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Life cycle assessment of Chlorella species producing biodiesel and remediating wastewater

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Abstract

Constantly rising energy demands, finite fossil fuel reserves and deteriorating environmental conditions have invoked worldwide interest to explore the sustainable sources of renewable biofuels. Locally adapted photosynthetic oleaginous microalgae with rapid growth on variable temperatures could be an ideal way for bioremediating the wastewater (WW) while producing the feedstock for biodiesel. To test this notion, an unknown strain was isolated from a sewage fed lake (Neela-Hauz). It was discerned as Chlorella sorokiniana-I using the 16S rDNA and 18S rDNA barcodes. The culture conditions such as pH, illumination, different temperature ranges and growth medium were cohesively optimized prior to the assessment of C. sorokiniana-I’s efficacy to remediate the WW and biodiesel production. The strain has thrived well up to 40°C when continuously grown for 15 days. The highest lipid accumulation and biomass productivity were recorded in 100% WW. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content was observed to be more than twice in WW (47%), compared to control synthetic media, TAP (20%) and BG11 (10%), which indicate the importance of this new isolate for producing economically viable biodiesel. Moreover, it is highly efficient in removing the total nitrogen (77%), total phosphorous (81%), iron (67%) and calcium (42%) from the WW. The quality of WW was considerably improved by reducing the overall chemical oxygen demand (48%), biological oxygen demand (47%) and alkalinity (15%). Thus, C. sorokiniana-I could be an ideal alga for the tropical countries in the remediation of WW while producing feedstock for biodiesel in a cost-effective manner.

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Abbreviations

BG11:

blue green medium

TAP:

Tris-acetate phosphate

WW:

wastewater

COD:

chemical oxygen demand

BOD:

biological oxygen demand

TOC:

total organic carbon

TIC:

total inorganic carbon

TN:

total nitrogen

TP:

total phosphorous

FAME:

fatty acid methyl ester

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mr. Girish HR, ICGEB, New Delhi, for assistance in GC–MS analysis and thanks to Mr. Rajeev Bahuguna. ICGEB, New Delhi, for carrying the algal-treated WW vs un-treated WW on rice plants. This work was supported by the funding from Department of Biotechnology (DBT) (Grant No. ND/DBT/12/17), Government of India and Centre for High Technology (CHT) (Grant No. ND/CPCL/Aban/17012)/India to SK. University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India provided Ph.D. fellowship to PN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Prachi Nawkarkar, Amit Kumar Singh & Shashi Kumar

  2. MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, 612 Wilson Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Amit Kumar Singh

  3. Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, 110 062, India

    Malik Zainul Abdin

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  1. Prachi Nawkarkar
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  2. Amit Kumar Singh
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  3. Malik Zainul Abdin
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Correspondence to Shashi Kumar.

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Communicated by BJ RAO.

Corresponding editor: BJ Rao

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Nawkarkar, P., Singh, A.K., Abdin, M.Z. et al. Life cycle assessment of Chlorella species producing biodiesel and remediating wastewater. J Biosci 44, 89 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-019-9896-0

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