Combination Effect of Temperature and Light Intensity on Lipid Productivity of Tetradesmus obliquus

Lipid enhancement is important to reduce production cost thus increasing the commercial values of microalgal biofuel production. Physical stress such as temperature and light intensity are known to increase lipid productivity because these factors might affect the phase transition of lipid, macromolecule formation and physiochemical reactions of microalgae. In this study, the effect of light intensity and temperature on lipid productivity of Tetradesmus obliquus was studied. T.obliquus UPSI-JRM02 was cultured in BG11 media at different temperature range (25–40°C) and light intensity (4000–30000 lux), respectively, within 14 days of growth period. The highest lipid productivity was obtained at temperature and light intensity of 36°C and 23500 lux. At this condition, 27 mg/L/day of lipid productivity and 23% of total lipid was successfully produced. The result shows the possibility of increasing T.obliquus lipid productivity by giving physical stress to the cell.