Nitrates versus Urea on Picochlorum oklahomenses Algae Growth

Abstract

There is an increased need to find an acceptable source to create biofuels (French 2019). There is an abundance of algae, which are great sources of biomass. Biomass can be converted into important biofuels (French 2019). To try to create an abundance of algae we tested whether an increase of nitrate or an increase of urea will have more growth. We conducted 2 experiments adding nitrate and urea to determine which would have a higher cell growth after one week. We have predicted that with an increase of inorganic nitrate versus an increase of organic urea, that there will be an increase in growth with the inorganic nitrate. This is assumed because the algae, Picochlorum oklahomense, will be able to absorb the nitrogen from the inorganic material more efficiently. The experiments conducted verified our hypothesis that nitrate would have a higher cell growth rate versus with urea.