THE OPTIMIZATION OF LIGHT INTENSITY AND DRYING TEMPERATURE ON LIPID CONTENT OF MICROALGAE NANNOCHLOROPSIS OCULATA

The production of sustainable renewable energy is currently being studied extensively globally to determine a suitable feedstock to displace nonrenewable fuel. in this context, microalgae are foreseen as a potential source in producing biodiesel. this is due to its high lipid yield and fast growth that does not compete with essential food crops for land. the aim of the present work was to study the effect of different light intensities on the growth rate and drying temperatures with respect to the lipid yield for nannochloropsis oculata. the result showed that at 5000 lux, the microalgae achieved the highest specific growth rate of 0.236 day^-1 with the shortest generation time of 2.9 days. this was followed by 3000 and 7000 lux which produced lower growth rate. drying temperature was also found to influence the lipid yield of nannochloropsis oculata. highest lipid yield comprising of 6.47% were obtained when the cells were dried at 85°c as compared to cells dried at 70°c and 100°c.