We Now (KNO3)W The Effect of High Concentrations of Nitrogen, in the form of Potassium Nitrate, on Algal Growth of Chlorella spp

Abstract

In today’s society, the production of petroleum oil is steadily declining; therefore, the demand for biofuels is drastically increasing (Singh et al. 2011). Companies and organizations, such as Biofuels Research and Aquatic Quality Collaborative (BiRAQC), are researching alternative biofuels such as those that can be produced from the lipids found in algae. In our experiment, we manipulated nitrogen-phosphorous ratios to observe how these changes affect Chlorella spp. growth. Our data showed that the 5:1 nitrogen-phosphorous ratio had the highest average growth rate per day compared to the other nitrogen-phosphorous ratios. Our results suggest that light has a direct effect on algae growth. Future studies could involve testing the same hypothesis at a sustainable amount of light to promote cell growth.