Development of discontinous filtration system for enhancing biomass production and CO₂ fixation from chlorella vulgaris buitenzorg

Currently, microalgae such Chlorella vulgaris is using as a raw material for biofuels. Chlorella vulgaris has ability to absorb CO₂ and metabolized to produce lipids, proteins and carbohydrates in its cell body. Chlorella culture was cultivated in mid-scale bubble column photobioreactor which was sparged by air which contains 5% CO₂. It's biomass production rate could be keep constant hight by adjusting its culture cell density. These arrangements will be implemented through a discontinuous filtration system thathas been proven to increase production of Ch. vulgaris biomass about two times more than cultivation without filtration system. The results also have shown that the average rate of CO₂ fixation obtained at the filtration system was larger. Discontinuous filtration system is very potential to be developed as a method for the production of biomass. This discontinuous filtration system resulted an accumulation of lipids around 36.7% in its internal cell.