by hardpintoo » Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:19 am
One of the objectives of microalgal culture is to provide reliable production technology for important live aquaculture feed organisms. Presented here are the results of experiments designed to provide a better understanding of the relationship between inorganic carbon availability and algal production.
Our results suggest that through additions of CO2 gas we were able to maintain sufficient dissolved carbon to stabilize outdoor algal cultures. Increases in the rate of addition of CO2 increased levels of dissolved CO2, total dissolved inorganic carbon (SgrCO2), and decreased pH in the growth medium. This translated into improved buffering capacity of the culture medium and higher growth rate. A minimum of 2.4 mM SgrCO2 was found necessary to maintain a maximal growth rate of 0.7 doublings/day. We also found that the increased productivity more than offsets the cost of adding the CO2.