Lipid and Fatty Acid Extraction from the Cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa for Biodiesel Production

In recent years, much attention has been directed to the biotechnological potential of microalgae, mainly due to the identification of various substances synthesized by these microorganisms, like lipids, carotenoids, pigments, vitamins and aromatic compounds. Obtaining lipids from cyanobacterium is attracting great interest for the commercial production of biodiesel. In this context, the aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of lipid content in the sludge produced by the biomass of Microcystis aeruginosa, obtained in the process of water treatment (coagulation / flocculation / dissolved air flotation), using as coagulant Moringa oleifera Lam seeds in concentrations varied in the range of 25 – 300 mg.L^-1. For the tests was used deionized water artificially contaminated with cell cultures Microcystis aeruginosa (BCCUSP232), obtainig a cell density varied in the range of 10⁶-10⁷ cells.mL^-1. Cyanobacterium cells were grown in ASM-1 liquid medium sparged with sterile air and maintained at 25 °C under constant ilumination by white fluorescent ligth (109 μmol photon m^-2s^-1). Biomass lipid was evaluated by lipid composition of esters in transesterification/esterification reaction, adding to the oil, a solution of hexane, chloroform and hydrochloric acid.The esters produced were diluted in a solution of hexane and tricosanoic acid methyl ester as the internal standard in gas chromatographic analysis. Lipid material was characterized as the profile of the major fatty acid. Biomass showed a composition of palmitic acid (11.73%), oleic acid (8.08%) and linoleic (37.55%). These results demostrated that cyanobacterium lipids from M. aeruginosa have interesting properties for biodiesel prodution.