Effects of nitrogen source availability and bioreactor operating strategies on lutein production with Scenedesmus obliquus FSP-3

In this study, the effects of the type and concentration of nitrogen sources on the cell growth and lutein content of an isolated microalga Scenedesmus obliquus FSP-3 were investigated. With batch culture, the highest lutein content (4.61. mg/g) and lutein productivity (4.35. mg/L/day) were obtained when using 8.0. mM calcium nitrate as the nitrogen source. With this best nitrogen source condition, the microalgae cultivation was performed using two bioreactor strategies (namely, semi-continuous and two-stage operations) to further enhance the lutein content and productivity. Using semi-continuous operation with a 10% medium replacement ratio could obtain the highest biomass productivity (1304.8. mg/L/day) and lutein productivity (6.01. mg/L/day). This performance is better than most related studies.