Análise do crescimento da microalga Chlorella vulgaris em meios de cultura distintos

Abstract

Microalgae, photosynthetic microscopic organisms, have attracted much attention from scientists due to its biotechnological potential, because its biomass can be explored as source of biofuels, and also, substances with high nutritional and commercial value, like proteins, fatty acids ans vitamins. On this study, the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris was utilized. A preliminary assay was performed on non-aerated conditions, where three different formulations of the inorganic fertilizer NPK (nitrogen:phosphorus:potassium) 19:19:19, 16:08:32 and 12:43:12 were compared. The culture which grew in NPK 16:08:32 medium showed the best results (higher cellular densities), being chosen to be compared with WC synthetic medium on aerated conditions. When the cultures cultivated on aerated conditions, with the different medium (WC and NPK 16:08:32), were analyzed, a better microalgae growth was observer with the inorganic fertilizer. Moreover, the microalgae was also cultivated in an open system, with the utilization of inorganic fertilizer (NPK 19:19:19), which showed acceptable growth during the cultivation time, enabling the use of the obtained biomass as inoculum to higher scale cultivation, as well as extraction of high value compounds produced by this microalgae.