Lipid Production from Algae Grown in Saline Water Using Low Intensity Culture Techniques.

摘要

New Mexico's fresh water use currently equals its renewable supply. For a short while, economic growth can be based on a fresh water supply expanded by mining. In the long run, fresh water use will be limited by the state's precipitation and compact entitlements to surface water flows. The ultimate limitation of economic activity by a lack of fresh water is a problem New Mexico shares with many of the region's arid states. One way to relieve some of the pressure placed on the region's economic activity is to utilize its abundant supplies of saline groundwater in a productive manner. Because desalinization is so costly, the most feasible uses of saline groundwater are those which use the water as it comes from the well with little or no modification. The production of algae for biomass and oils is such a use. Preliminary calculations indicated that low input growth procedures, could provide algal yields sufficiently high to be profitable provided that these yields were realized in practice and that reasonable by-product recovery could augment income from algal oils. The project investigated the possibility of using a low inputs/low technology approach for growing microalgae as a feedstock for oil or petrochemical production.