CULTIVATIONOF FRESH WATERMICROALGAE FOR LIPID EXTRACTION NEEDED FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION

Abstract

The water samples were collected from Ponds located at the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA and Pond in Oda Road, Akure. Physicochemical and microbiological analyses were carried out on the water samples collected from the ponds using standard techniques. Microalgae were cultivated in Erlenmenyer flask containing Bristol and Chu growth media. The growth rate, ambient temperature and pH were monitored. The microalgal biomass were harvested to obtain the dry mass for lipid screening. The lipid content was determined using Soxhlet apparatus method. The microalgal density for FUTApond was 4.41 ± 0.85a while that of Oda road was 5.69 ± 0.71a. . ODA Road pond showed higher microalgal count of 5.69 ± 0.71a.The Oda Road pond has a lower conductivity value of 1.03 μS/cm andhigher value of dissolved oxygen (DO) 62.77 ms/cmwhile FUTA pond had a lower turbidity value of 0.60 NTU.The growth of microalgal ranged from 0.007 to 0.186 cells/ml. The ambient temperature ranged from 23oC to 29oC respectively. The ambient pH value ranged from 7 to 8.The microalgae showed the percentage lipid content of 17.1%. Findings from this study revealed that microalgae can be cultivated, harvested and their lipids extracted for biodiesel production