Light Stress after Heterotrophic Cultivation Enhances Lutein and Biofuel Production from a Novel Algal Strain Scenedesmus obliquus ABC-009

Scenedesmus obliquus ABC-009 is a microalgal strain that accumulates large amounts of lutein, particularly when subjected to growth-limiting conditions. Here, the performance of this strain was evaluated for the simultaneous production of lutein and biofuels under three different modes of cultivation – photoautotrophic mode using BG-11 medium with air or 2% CO(2) and heterotrophic mode using YM medium. While it was found that the highest fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) level and lutein content per biomass (%) were achieved in BG-11 medium with CO(2) and air, respectively, heterotrophic cultivation resulted in much higher biomass productivity. While the cell concentrations of the cultures grown under BG-11 and CO(2) were largely similar to those grown in YM medium, the disparity in the biomass yield was largely attributed to the larger cell volume in heterotrophically cultivated cells. Post-cultivation light treatment was found to further enhance the biomass productivity in all three cases and lutein content in heterotrophic conditions. Consequently, the maximum biomass (757.14 ± 20.20 mg/l/d), FAME (92.78 ± 0.08 mg/l/d), and lutein (1.006 ± 0.23 mg/l/d) productivities were obtained under heterotrophic cultivation. Next, large-scale lutein production using microalgae was demonstrated using a 1-ton open raceway pond cultivation system and a low-cost fertilizer (Eco-Sol). The overall biomass yields were similar in both media, while slightly higher lutein content was obtained using the fertilizer owing to the higher nitrogen content.