Bioresource Technology 244 (2017) 1349–1357

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Growth studies on microalgae Euglena sanguinea in various natural

eco-friendly composite media to optimize the lipid productivity
Ajith J. Kings a, R. Edwin Raj a, L.R. Monisha Miriam b,⇑, M. Adhi Visvanathan c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering, Nagercoil 629003, India
b
Department of Biotechnology, Udaya School of Engineering, Vellamodi 629204, India
c
Pinnacle Biosciences, Algae Research and Development Center, South Thamaraikulam 629708, India

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Euglena sanguinea is a potential

robust microalgal with high lipid
content.

Environmental factors optimized
based on biomass productivity using
RSM.

Nine composite media with additives
optimized to maximize the lipid
productivity.

The fatty acid profile of the extracted
oil confirms its compatibility.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The environmental and culture conditions of a potential microalgae Euglena sanguinea were optimized for
Received 31 March 2017 maximizing the biomass productivity. It was found that the organic macronutrient from poultry litter and
Received in revised form 22 June 2017 organic micronutrient of seaweed extract are very effective to enhance the lipid production.
Accepted 23 June 2017
Complementing, these organic nutrients with commercial NPK fertilizer, boost up the lipid productivity
Available online 26 June 2017
by 30.9% in comparison with the established standard Euglena medium. The fatty acid profile of the
extracted oil by GC–MS reveals its conformity with commercial diesel.
Keywords:
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Microalgae
Euglena sanguinea
Composite fertilizer
Lipid productivity
Biodiesel

1. Introduction
Exploring alternate renewable, economically competitive, envi-
ronmentally friendly, technically viable and easily available energy
source is the need of the hour to tackle energy and environmental
crises. The third generation bio-fuel production from microalgae
emerges as a promising one due to its carbon neutrality and the
potentiality for sustainability (Kamalanathan et al., 2015;
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: monishamiriambt@gmail.com (L.R.M. Miriam).
Bennion et al., 2015). Microalgae convert solar energy into chemi-
cal energy by fixing the environmental CO2 (Rawat et al., 2013).
Different microalgae species provide different quantity and quality
of lipidss, protein and carbohydrate which can be altered by vary-
ing its culture conditions (Goncalves et al., 2014).
The quantity and quality of lipid depend on the selection of
appropriate strain and optimization of its major influencing culture
conditions such as light intensity, temperature, pH level and the
nutrients (Talebi et al., 2013). Some of the influencing macronutri-
ents are nitrogen, phosphorous and sulphur, potassium and mag-
nesium. Similarly major micronutrients include iron, manganese,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.06.136
0960-8524/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.