Cultivation of algae with indigenous species – Potentials for regional biofuel production

The massive need for sustainable energy has led to an increased interest in new energy resources, such as production of algae, for use as biofuel. There are advantages to using algae, for example, land use is much less than in terrestrial biofuel production, and several algae species can double their mass in 1 day under optimized conditions. Most algae are phototrophs and some are nitrogen-fixing. Algae production therefore requires only small amounts of amendments such as carbon sources and nutrients. In the present paper an experiment was performed using water sampled from Lake Mälaren in Sweden. The lake water is considered nutrient rich, has relatively neutral pH and is rich in organic compounds and suspended solids. The idea behind this research was to enhance indigenous algae production rather than inoculate new species into the system. A simple experimental setup was designed where algae biomass growth was measured regularly over a 13 day period. FT-IR absorption spectra were evaluated in order to determine protein, lipid, carbohydrate and silicate contents of the algae. The algae community structure was characterized throughout the production cycle. Furthermore, the potential for energy supply for the transportation sector in the Mälardalen region from algae cultivated as tested in the experiment was evaluated.