LED power efficiency of biomass, fatty acid, and carotenoid production in Nannochloropsis microalgae

• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.096
• Publication Date: 2017-12-28T21:59:48Z
• Authors: Ruijuan Ma; Skye R. Thomas-Hall; Elvis T. Chua; Eladl Eltanahy; Michael E. Netzel; Gabriele Netzel; Yinghua Lu; Peer M. Schenk
• Keywords: 1502 Bioengineering; Sustainability and the Environment; Fatty Acids; Light emitting diode; Carotenoids; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 2105 Renewable Energy; 2311 Waste Management and Disposal; 2305 Environmental Engineering; Omega-3 fatty acids; Microalgae; Nannochloropsis; Biomass; Stramenopiles; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The microalga Nannochloropsis produces high-value omega-3-rich fatty acids and carotenoids. In this study the effects of light intensity and wavelength on biomass, fatty acid, and carotenoid production with respect to light output efficiency were investigated. Similar biomass and fatty acid yields were obtained at high light intensity (150 μmol m-2 s-1) LEDs on day 7 and low light intensity (50 μmol m-2 s-1) LEDs on day 11 during cultivation, but the power efficiencies of biomass and fatty acid (specifically eicosapentaenoic acid) production were higher for low light intensity. Interestingly, low light intensity enhanced both, carotenoid power efficiency of carotenoid biosynthesis and yield. White LEDs were neither advantageous for biomass and fatty acid yields, nor the power efficiency of biomass, fatty acid, and carotenoid production. Noticeably, red LED resulted in the highest biomass and fatty acid power efficiency, suggesting that LEDs can be fine-tuned to grow Nannochloropsis algae more energy-efficiently.