Chiang Mai Journal of Science

The increasing demand for oil by the world’s population has resulted in higher global petroleum prices. Many countries have been trying to explore new energy sources. One such example of this would be biodiesel, which is a form of alternative energy derived from animal and plant lipids. Algae, especially microalgae are organisms, which accumulate high fatty acid in their cells. This research was aimed at comparing the growth rate and high lipid content of native microalgal strains (Chlorella sp. AARLG008, Scenedesmus sp. AARLG022, Monoraphidium sp. AARL G044, Carteria sp. AARLG045 and Carteria sp. AARLG046) with foreign strain (Nannochloropsis limnetica SAG 18.99). All cultures of microalgae were cultivated under Thai climate conditions in Jaworski’s Medium (JM). It was found that the native strains grew better than the foreign strain. Scenedesmus sp. AARL G022, Monoraphidium sp. AARLG044 and Carteria sp. AARLG045 were found to be the top three strains in terms of growth rate and lipid content. Carteria sp. AARLG045, the best promising strain, was selected and cultivated in 2 media: JM and Algal Media (AM).  Carteria sp. AARLG045 could grow in AM as well as in JM and accumulated similar amounts of total lipids (29.59 mg.L^-1 and 27.18 mg.L^-1, respectively). However, AM is ten percent less expensive than JM.