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Marine microalgae Microchloropsis gaditana and Pseudochloris wilhelmii cultivated in oil refinery wastewater – a perspective on remediation and biodiesel production

Industries are seen as centers of pollution, thus finding sustainable solutions for recycling their waste products such as chemicals, heat and CO2 is of a high priority. Along these lines, marine microalgae Microchloropsis gaditana and Pseudochloris wilhelmii were selected and cultivated in 50% diluted oil refinery wastewater at 18°C and 80 μmol photon m-2 s-1 at the salinity of 19 psu with a CO2 supply to study biomass quality for biofuel production. Between the two species, faster growth was observed for P. wilhelmii during the exponential phase, but after 10 days of growth its total lipid content (35.5%) was lower in comparison to M. gaditana (40.6%). Fatty acid methyl esters of a higher quality suitable for biodiesel production were produced in lag phase (within 48 h) for both species. Maximum lipid concentrations between the species were comparable, 115.3 mg l-1 for M. gaditana and 114.0 mg l-1 for P. wilhelmii. Both species have successfully removed ammonia/ammonium (~0.9 mM) from the wastewater within 8 days. M. gaditana had a considerably lower requirement for phosphorus. This indicates that M. gaditana could be more suitable for bioremediation of phosphorous-poor industrial wastewater due to lower production costs of its biomass with the high lipid content of good quality for biodiesel production.

marine microalgae ; wastewater ; nutrient uptake ; biomass ; lipids ; biodiesel

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