Performance of reflector coated LED Bio-box on the augmentation of growth and lipid production in aerophytic trebouxiophyceaen algae Coccomyxa sp.

The present study demonstrates the enhancement of microalgae growth using newly designed reflector coated algal culture box having LED as a light source with various light qualifies. The highest biomass (5.2 g L-1) was observed under red illumination with reflector. Whereas total chlorophyll (30.4 +/- 2.2 g L-1), lipid (53.3%), lipid productivity (27.7 mg L-1 day(-1)) and total fatty acid (79.4%) were observed under blue LED with reflector. LED illumination with a reflector coat on culture box provide high efficiency and deep-equal light penetration that improved the specific growth rate (white, 0.252; blue, 0.352; green, 0.117 and red, 0.44 day(-1)) and reduced cultivation time compared to normal culture condition. This modified algal culture box setup can be utilized to reduce the self-shading mechanism in the algae culture; it can reduce the culture period and minimize the cost of production.