Abstract
Current study investigated the fermentative production of cell mass and crude protein using an axenic culture of the thermotolerant strain of grown mixotrophically in an illuminated 10-l glass bioreactor. The process was then upscaled to 1,000-l bioreactor. The organism supported maximum specific growth rate, crude protein volumetric productivity, and specific productivity of 1.2 day(-1), 2.26 g l(-1) day(-1), and 0.76 g g(-1) day(-1), respectively, with urea as nitrogen source. Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy values for its formation were 74.3, 56. 2 kJ mol(-1), and -59.1 J mol(-1) K-1, respectively, in both reactors and corresponded to those of thermotolerant organisms. Algal biomass grown in 10-l bioreactor contained 0.52 +/- A 0.03, 12.6 +/- A 2.0, 60.0 +/- A 4.5, 0.4 +/- A 0.02, 4.5 +/- A 0.2, 12 +/- A 0.5, and 3.81 +/- A 0.5% carotenoids, carbohydrates, crude protein, DNA, RNA, lipids, and total chlorophyll, respectively. Dry biomass supported good growth of fish larvae comparable with that on commercial diet.