Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: The aim was to determine the biodegradation potential of crude oil by Chlorella sp. under mixotrophic conditions, as well as the capacity of production of biomass and photosynthetic pigments. Methods / Statistical Analysis: Concentrations of 5 g/L, 10 g/L, 15 g/L and 20 g/L crude oil were evaluated for 15 days with light intensity of 2500 lux, the oil mass removed, the production of biomass and photosynthetic pigments were measured. The treatments were carried out in triplicate and expressed as the mean ± the standard error. A ANOVA and Tukey test were carried out for the significant differences. Findings: The microalga Chlorella sp. under the conditions of mixotrophic growth showed the highest average mass removal of crude oil at concentrations of 10 g/L with a percentage of 96.64% on day 15, as well as high biomass production with 0.0786 g/mL and photosynthetic pigments on day 12 with 0.575 μg/mL for carotenoids and 1,740 μg/mL for chlorophyll-a, while chlorophyll b production was higher at the same concentration but on day 15 with 1,317 μg/mL. These results show that Chlorella sp. It has the capacity to grow under different concentrations of crude oil and this is positively influenced with high biomass production and high content of photosynthetic pigments with potential for biotechnological applications. Improvements / Applications: The mixotróficos growth conditions in vitro using crude oil as the sole source of carbon stimulate the productivity of algal biomass and photosynthetic pigments.

Keywords: Biodegradation, Chlorella, Microalga, Mixotrophic, GC-MS