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Effect of different concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen on the growth of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris

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International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering Aims and scope

Abstract

The growth curve is an important characteristic to estimate microalgae biomass production for biofuel generation, since they can measure the variation between concentrations of limiting factors of culture medium. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate the development of Chlorella vulgaris with triplicate cultivation of three different concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus (Treatment 1: 0.50 g L−1 Ca(NO3)2·4H2O and 0.13 g L−1 KH2PO4, Treatment 2: 0.50 g L−1 Ca(NO3)2·4H2O and 0.39 g L−1 KH2PO4, Treatment 3: 1.50 g L−1 Ca(NO3)2·4H2O and 0.13 g L−1 KH2PO4,). Growth curve using Gompertz model presented high R2 (0.96 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.99) in the three studied treatments. In the thirteenth day, turbidity in the treatment with higher nitrogen concentration (203.67 NTU) was 2.15 times higher than the first treatment (94.56 NTU) and 1.78 times higher than the treatment with higher level of phosphorus (113.9 NTU). We therefore observed a major biomass production, chlorophylls and carotenoids in the treatment with higher concentration of nitrogen, while in high levels of phosphorus the growth is not statistically significant from the first treatment with lower nitrogen and phosphorus concentration (p value > 0.05). In the end of cultivation, there was an increase of 203.12% in chlorophyll-a in the third treatment compared to the first treatment and of 246.42% in comparison with the second treatment. For carotenoids, the highest increase was seen compared to the first treatment (192%) than for the second treatment (137.5%). Therefore the treatment with lower phosphorous concentration in the cultivation medium presented slightly higher chlorophyll concentration and smaller carotenoids with the treatment with higher phosphorus concentration. The ash content demonstrated that this microalgae have a great potential for energy use.

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Acknowledgements

We authors would like to thank the help and suggestions provided by the professors Dr. Emerson Luiz Botelho Lourenço and Dr. Ricardo Puziol de Oliveira for the elaboration of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineer, Umuarama, PR, Brazil

    Lilian Tavares

  2. Department of Environment, State University of Maringá (UEM), Umuarama, PR, Brazil

    Matheus Haddad Nudi & Elias Trevisan

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, State University of Maringá, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Pedro Augusto Arroyo

  4. Centre de Recherche sur les Interactions Bassins Versants-Écosystèmes Aquatiques (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

    Rodrigo Felipe Bedim Godoy

  5. Interuniversity Research Group in Limnology (GRIL), Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Rodrigo Felipe Bedim Godoy

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Tavares, L., Nudi, M.H., Arroyo, P.A. et al. Effect of different concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen on the growth of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Int J Energy Environ Eng 14, 563–572 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40095-022-00535-z

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