Investigating the Effects of Sodium Azide and Red Light Illumination in Two-Stage Cultivation on Lipid Production of Desmodesmus sp. for Biofuel Production

Abstract

Indonesia is striving for a greener and cleaner future, and is pushing for the commercial application of biofuels. Currently Indonesia is focused on palm-oil based biofuels, but it comes with many negative impacts and challenges. Hence, it is necessary to improve upon biofuel production technology. Shifting towards third generation microalgal biofuels is an attractive option, as microalgae has high lipid productivity and addresses previous generations’ challenges. However, further research is still required to further improve the production efficacy of microalgal biofuel. Hence, this paper aims to study the growth and lipid production of locally isolated Desmodesmus sp. in a two-stage method cultivation, with the introduction of (1) Sodium Azide (NaN3 ) and (2) Red Light as stressors in the second stage of cultivation. NaN3 at a concentration of 0.5 mM was found to significantly reduce biomass production, consequently reducing the production of lipid and pigment (chlorophyll and carotenoid) produced by cultures with NaN3 . The use of red light (630-700 nm) was not found to have significant effect on biomass production, but was found to have an impact towards lipid production, as well as pigment production.