How can I get max yield of algae oil? Is there any specific methods or nutrients by which i can improve oil yield from algal strains?

Hai Nive,
I read some news on a method called Nutrient deprivation where they reduce the amount of nutrients such as nitrogen and silica to improvise the oil content.

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf

You can read in detail here

Hi,
I have read that feeding the algae more carbon dioxide could boost the oil yield to as much as 40 percent by weight. What is the rate of CO2 input I should maintain for increasing the oil yield?

This is not an answer to your question, but an interesting article...it says a couple of billion years back, CO2 was required to heat the planet because there was not enough warmth.

Funny how someone's disease could have been someone else's medicine

Some researches say it is possible to enhance the lipid biosynthesis by increasing the activity of the enzyme Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) via genetic engineering.

http://moritz.botany.ut.ee/~olli/b/ProjectFY.pdf

but this article says,

[quote]Miscellaneous notes gleaned from the 328-page NREL final report:
Researchers isolated the enzyme Acetyl CoA Carboxylase (ACCase) and isolated the gene that encodes for ACCase. They demonstrated over-expression of the ACCase gene, but it did not yield higher oil production.[/quote]

http://www.rationallink.org/algae.htm

Which will be correct? Any guesses?

[quote="nivedhitha"]How can I get max yield of algae oil? Is there any specific methods or nutrients by which i can improve oil yield from algal strains?[/quote]

I came across this article....

[quote]Light enhances the formation of polyunsaturated C16 and C18 fatty acids as well as mono- and di-galactosyl-diglycerides, sphingolipids and phosphoglycerides in Euglena gracils and Chlorella vulgaris Low temperatures increase the synthesis of polyunsaturated C18 fatty acids by Monochrysis lutheri, and also cause changes in the fatty acid composition of Dunaliella salina.[/quote]

I'd like to know is this method suitable for other algae strains? Anybody here have any idea?

http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7241e/w7241e ... drocarbons

Hi,
The change in fatty acid composition with respect to temperature occurs in Algae, Bacteria and also in plants.. So i guess irrespective of the organism there will be some changes in the fatty acid composition with respective to the temperature..

Reference
Bacteria: http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/8/1622
Plants: http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/98/3/451
Algae: http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content ... /92/4/1062

Hi,
I actually want to know about a concept called "Spigot analogy"

I came across this term in NREL - Aquatic species Program – Spigot analogy refers to shutting off the flow of carbon to carbohydrates, in the hopes that it would force carbon to flow down the lipid synthesis pathway which will in turn increase the lipid synthesis.

Has anybody tried out this approach so far?.. Is it possible to get higher yield through this method?

hi

Werner also reported an increase in cellular lipids during a 24 hours silicon starvation period. The switch from carbohydrate accumulation to lipid accumulation in these diatoms occurs very rapidly

Is spigot analogy and the switch from carbohydrate accumulation to lipid accumulation by nutrient deprivation the same. In nutrient deprivation method also there is a shift from carbohydrate accumulation to lipid accumulation which also a way of diverting more carbon to lipid synthesis pathway.