Oil & Gas Research
Open Access

Research Article

Mass Cultivation from a Korean Raceway Pond System of IndigenousMicroalgae as Potential Biofuel Feedstock

Hong JW^1,2, Kim OH¹, Kim H¹, Jo SW³, Cho HW² and Yoon HS^1-3*

¹Advanced Bio-resource Research Center, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea

²Department of Biology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea

³Department of Energy Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, South Korea

*Corresponding Author:

Yoon HS
Advanced Bio-resource Research Center
Department of Biology
Department of Energy Science
Kyungpook National University, South Korea
Tel: +82 539505348
E-mail: hsy@knu.ac.kr

Received date: December 14, 2015; Accepted date: December 28, 2015; Published date: January 28, 2016

Citation: Hong JW, Kim OH, Kim H, Jo SW, Cho HW, et al. (2016) Mass Cultivation from a Korean Raceway Pond System of Indigenous Microalgae as Potential Biofuel Feedstock. Oil Gas Res 2:108. doi: 10.4172/2472-0518.1000108

Copyright: © 2016 Hong JW, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Naturally occurring freshwater microalgae were mass cultivated in continuous mode at a large-scale facility. From June 2014 to August 2015, biomass productivity, lipid content, and calorific value data were obtained from two 675.0 m2 raceway ponds. The collected biomass had an overall average productivity of approximately 7.0 g dry weight/m2/day and a lipid content of 12.2%. Ultimate analysis incorporated with thermal analysis indicated that the average calorific value was 17.5 MJ/kg. The dominant genera found were Chlorella, Coelastrella, Acutodesmus, and Pseudopediastrum. This pilot-scale study demonstrated the potential of microalgal biomass produced on a largescale as a biofuel under Korean geoclimatic conditions.

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