TITLE:
Investigation of Biobutanol Efficiency of Chlorella sp. Cultivated in Municipal Wastewater
AUTHORS:
Melih Onay
KEYWORDS:
Microalgae, Chlorella, Biobutanol, Biofuel, Municipal Wastewater
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.6 No.10,
October
23,
2018
ABSTRACT: Many strains of microalgae can grow in wastewaters through their ability to utilize inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater. The content of municipal wastewater changes from a location to others. Biofuel production from municipal wastewater has gained huge importance due to progresses in cultivation of microalgae in wastewaters. Biobutanol is produced by the acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. In this study, we examined the biobutanol production efficiency of Chlorella sp. DEE006 which is cultivated in the municipal wastewater in flat-photobioreactor. Growth of microalgae was monitored at 680 nm using spectrophotometer and the biomass was also pre-treated with acidic hydrolysis (1 M H2SO4). Total carbohydrate and protein contents were measured. Fermented microalgae samples were taken for calculation of biobutanol concentration. We obtained both high biobutanol content (6.23 ± 0.19 g·L−1) and high bioethanol yield 0.16 ± 0.005 g (g sugar)−1. 50% wastewater had the highest biomass concentration (1930 ± 11 mg/L) among the wastewaters with five various concentrations. It had the highest biomass productivity with 0.28 ± 0.001 g L−1d−1. Also, it obtained the highest carbohydrate and protein concentration with 0.80 ± 0.02 gL−1 and 0.95 ± 0.01 gL−1, respectively. According to our results, Chlorella sp. DEE006 can be used for large scale biobutanol production in the future.