Influence of daily collection and culture medium recycling on the growth and beta-carotene yield of Dunaliella salina.

ABSTRACT

The halophilic green alga Dunaliella salina has the potential to be cultivated for beta-carotene-rich biomass, however, open-air systems need to be further improved in order to become more competitive and more economical, rather than leave the major beta-carotene consuming market derived from artificially synthesis. A set of daily collection ratios was designed and scaled up with the aim to harvest cell biomass and beta-carotene from D. salina at logarithmic phase; the yields were comparable to the normal culture without daily removal of culture. Daily collection of 1/7.5 volume of algal culture was found to be appropriate to keep the balance between the cell biomass and beta-carotene accumulation. Light intensity as one of the important factors would affect both cell growth and beta-carotene content synchronously. Further, the method of recycling 1/7.5 volume of culture after removal of algae cells was developed in order to decrease input cost for the effective production of beta-carotene, and both the resulting yields of the cell biomass and beta-carotene gained an advantage over those from the normal D. salina culture.