The effect of pH buffering on biomass and lipid production by Chlorella sp microalgae in a flat plate photobioreactor

This survey examines lipid and biomass productivity of Chlorella sp microalgae cultivated in municipal wastewater in a 50-liter flat plate photobioreactor. The Chlorella sp was a local strain microalgae isolated from Parkandabad wastewater treatment facility, Mashhad. It was cultivated in municipal wastewater under the 16:8 light/dark cycle at a constant temperature of 27±1 ˚C. Two experiments were carried out in this survey, in the first one, pH was controlled by the use of buffering system of CO2 and sodium bicarbonate. In the second run, carbon source was limited to NaHCO3 and pH was not under control. The growth and biomass production of 0.960 g l-1 was obtained for buffered experiment, while that was 0.650 g l-1 for the latter experiment. Maximum lipid content of 23% was achieved for the first experiment during 9 days of test, whereas that was only 15% for the second experiment without any pH control.