Objectives:
To exploit the potential of the alga Botryococcus braunii for biodiesel like
hydrocarbon production, its different strains would be isolated from various
natural ecosystems of Northern India, like Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan, and
following parameters would be looked into:
(ii) Standardization of optimal nutritional requirements (using Chu-13
medium), like various sources and concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus,
organic carbon, etc. and culture conditions, like pH, aeration, irradiance,
temperature, salinity, NaF, etc. for the growth of the isolated alga in culture
room.
(iii) Optimization of culture conditions, like nutrients, light intensity, light-dark
cycle, salinity, etc, for the maximum production of hydrocarbons that is the
potential source of biodiesel, by the alga in artificial growth conditions. The
quantity and quality of various hydrocarbons would be assayed by the techniques
of GLC (Gas Liquid Chromatography) and HPLC (High Pressure Liquid
Chromatography).
(iv) After screening some best strains, improvement of the parental B. braunii
strains would be done through mutagenesis by using UV or some chemical as the
mutagen in order to enhance the growth rate and hydrocarbon production which
would be used as the potential source of commercial hydrocarbon.
(v) To reduce the cost of production of hydrocarbons, standardization of the
economic growth medium and the use of partially treated wastes, like domestic
sewage and industrial waste waters, for outdoor production of mutant alga and
the hydrocarbons in small plastic trays and tanks in open areas or poly-houses or
glass-houses as well as tubular photobioreactors.
(vi) Efforts would also be made for large-scale cultivation and harvesting of the
alga in natural water bodies that are suitable for the growth of B. braunii., like
Sambhar Salt Lake, collected sea water in artificial ponds in coastal areas near
Gujarat.
(vii) Extraction of biodiesel like hydrocarbons from the test organism and their
chemical analysis.
Some International references related to this kind of work:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
Jian Qin (2005) Bio - Hydrocarbons from Algae: impacts of temperature, light
and salinity on algal growth. A report for the Rural Industries Research and
Development Corporation.
Brown A.C., Knights B.A. and Conway E. (1969) Hydrocarbon content and
its relationship to physiological state in the green alga Botryococcusbraunii.
Phytochemistry 8, 543-547.
Brenckmann, F., Largeau, C., Casadevall, E., Corre, B. and Berkaloff, C.
1985.
Influence of light intensity on hydrocarbon and total biomass
production of Botryococcus braunii. Relations with photosynthetic
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
(xi)
(xii)
(xii)
characteristics. – In: Paiz, W.; Coombs, J. And Hall, D. O. (Eds.): Energy
from Biomass, p. 722-726.- Elsevier Appl. Sci. Publ., London.
Casadevall, E., Dif, D., Largeau, C., Gudin, C., Chaument, D. and Desantit, O.
1985. Studies on batch and continuous cultures of Botryococcus braunii:
hydrocarbon production in relation to physiological state, cell ultra structure,
and
phosphate nutrition. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 27, 286-295
Fernandes, H.L., Tomè, M.M., Lupi, F., Fialho, A.M., Sá-Correia, I. And
Novais,
J.M. 1989. Biosynthesis of high concentrations of an
exopolysaccharides during the cultivation of the microalga Botryococcus
braunii. Biotechnol. Lett. 11: 433436.
Kojima E. and Zhang K. 1999. Growth and hydrocarbon production of
microalga
Botryococcus braunii in Bubble column photobioreactors. Journal of
Bioscience and Bioengineering. Vol. 87, Issue 6, 811-815.
Largeau, C., Casadevall, E., Dif, D. and Berkaloff, C. 1980. Renewable
hydrocarbon production from the agla Botryococcus braunii. – In: Paiz, W.;
Coombs, J. and Hall, D. O. (Eds.) Energy from Biomass, p. 653-658. –
Elsevier Appl. Sci. Publ., London.
Jun W., Suling Y., Wei C. and Zhao L.C. 2003. Effect of nutrient conditions
on the growth of Botryococcus braunii. The Chinese Journal of Process
Engineering. Vol. 2, no,2, pp:141-145.
Reinhard Bachofen. 1982. The production of hydrocarbons by Botryococcus
braunii. Experientia 38, 47-49.
Sawayama, S., Minowa, T., Dote, Y. and Yokoyama, S. 1992. Growth of the
Hydrocarbonrich microalga Botryococcus braunii in secondarily treated
sewage. Applied Microb. Biotech. Berlin, vol. 38, no. 1, 135-138.
Vázquez-Duhalt, R. and Arredondo-Vega, B.Q. 1991b. Oil production from
microalgae under saline stress. Biomass for energy and industry 5 th E.C
conference. Vol. 1: Policy, Environment, Production and Harvesting, 1: 547551.
Vladislay C., Jaromír L. 1994. The effect of high irradiances on growth,
biosynthetic activities and the ultrastructure of the green alga Botryococcus
braunii strain Droop 1950/807-1. Archiv fur hydrobiologie. (supp), pp. 115131. (Abstract)
Wolf F. R., Nomomura A. M. and Bassham J. A. 1985. Growth and branched
hydrocarbon production in a strain of Botryococcus brainii (Chlorophyta).
J.Phycol., 21, 388-396
Some national references:
(i) Singh, Y. and Kumar, H.D. 1992. Lipid and hydrocarbon production by
Botryococcus
sp. Under nitrogen limitation and anaerobiosis. World J. Microbio. Biotechnol. 8:
121- 124.
(ii) Singh, Y. and Kumar, H.D. 1994. Growth of Botryococcus sp. in improved
culture medium. Phykos. Algiers. Vol.33, no. 1-2, 77-87. (Abstract)
(iii) Ravishankar G. A. and Sarada R. (2007)Algae as a rich source of hydrocarbons
Presentation at Energy Bioscience Strategy for India September 10-11, New Delhi
(iv) C. Dayananda, R. Sarada, M. Usha Rani, T.R. Shamala and G.A. Ravishanka
(2006) Autotrophic cultivation of Botryococcus braunii for the production of
hydrocarbons and exopolysaccharides in various media, Biomass and Bioenergy,
Volume 31, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 87-93
(v) C. Dayananda, R. Sarada, V. Kumar and G.A. Ravishankar (2007) Isolation and
characterization of hydrocarbon producing green alga Botryococcus braunii
from Indian freshwater bodies. Electronic J. Biotech. Vol 10 (1), 11.