Cultivation of Spirulina maxima in medium supplemented with sugarcane vinasse.

The feasibility of sugarcane vinasse as supplement in growth medium of Spirulina maxima was investigated. The cell was cultivated under autotrophic (no vinasse, 70 µmol photons m(-2) s(-1)), heterotrophic (no light, culture medium supplemented with vinasse at 0.1% v/v and 1.0% v/v) and mixotrophic conditions (70 µmol photons m(-2) s(-1), vinasse at 0.1% v/v and 1.0% v/v). These preliminary results suggested a cyclic two-stage cultivation - CTSC, with autotrophic condition during light phase of the photoperiod (12 h, 70-200 µmol photons m(-2) s(-1)) and heterotrophic condition during dark phase (12h, 3.0% v/v vinasse). The adopted CTSC strategy consisted in three cycles with 75% withdrawal of suspension and reposition of medium containing 3.0% v/v vinasse, separated by autotrophic rest periods of few days between cycles. Results show an increase of biomass concentration between 0.495 g L(-1) and 0.609 g L(-1) at the 7th day of each cycle and high protein content (between 74.3% and 77.3% w/w).

Comparison between several methods of total lipid extraction from Chlorella vulgaris biomass.

The use of lipids obtained from microalgae biomass has been described as a promising alternative for production of biodiesel to replace petro-diesel. It involves steps such as the cultivation of microalgae, biomass harvesting, extraction and transesterification of lipids. The purpose of the present study was to compare different methods of extracting total lipids. These methods were tested in biomass of Chlorella vulgaris with the solvents ethanol, hexane and a mixture of chloroform:methanol in ratios 1:2 and 2:1. The solvents were associated with other mechanisms of cell disruption such as use of a Potter homogenizer and ultrasound treatment. The percentage of triglycerides in the total lipids was determinated by the glycerol-3-phosphate oxidase-p-chlorophenol method (triglycerides monoreagent K117; Bioclin). Among the tested methods, the mixture of chloroform:methanol (2:1) assisted by ultrasound was most efficient, extracting an average of 19% of total lipids, of which 55% were triglycerides. The gas chromatographic analysis did not show differences in methyl ester profiles of oils extracted under the different methods.