Optimization of Lipid Production by Biomass Modified with Ethyl Methane Sulfonate and Grown on Waste Glycerol.

One of the most promising avenues of biofuel research relates to using waste as a starting feedstock to produce liquid or gaseous energy carriers. The global production of waste glycerol by the refinery industry is rising year after year. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) on the growth rates and intracellular lipid accumulation in heterotrophically-cultured microalgae, grown on waste glycerol as the carbon source. The strain E20, produced by incubating a reference strain in EMS for 20 min, was found to perform the best in terms of producing biomass (0.054 g/dm·h) and accumulating intracellular bio-oil (0.021 g/dm·h). The selected parameters proved to be optimal for E20 biomass growth at the following values: temperature 27.3 °C, glycerol level 249.0 g/dm, oxygen in the culture 26%, and yeast extract concentration 45.0 g/dm. In turn, the optimal values for lipid production in an E20 culture were: temperature 24.2 °C, glycerol level 223.0 g/dm, oxygen in the culture 10%, and yeast extract concentration 10.0 g/dm. As the process conditions are different for biomass growth and for intracellular lipid accumulation, it is recommended to use a two-step culture process, which resulted in a lipid synthesis rate of 0.41 g/dm·h.