EFFECT OF DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS OF LIGHT ON THE GROWTH OF CHLORELLA PYRENOIDOSA

Chlorella pyrenoidosa is a fresh water microalgae used as substrate for production of value added products like biodiesel. In this investigation C.pyrenoidosa was grown for ten days in an internally illuminated bubble column photobioreactor at: 450 lux green light (495-570 nm), 480 lux red light (620-750 nm), 1663 lux blue light (450-495 nm), 1986 luxwhite light (380 to 750 nm). The results after a period of ten days of growth, showed that C.pyrenoidosa has grown better under blue light when compared to the other types of light. C. pyrenoidosa biomass produced 33.8% of lipid contentwhen grown under blue light, indicating its potential as alternative source of biodiesel.