Microalgae as a sustainable alternative to palm oil: fatty acid profiles under photoautotrophic and heterotrophic growth.

ABSTRACT: Palm oil is the world's most widely used vegetable oil, with a sizeable impact on the environment. As an alternative, microalgae are considered oil producers since they produce a variety of fatty acids (FA) depending on growth conditions. A collection of ten microalgae strains naturally producing oils similar in composition to palm oil was selected, and the effects of cultivation regime and varying light intensity on their growth and FA production and composition were analysed. To achieve high biomass density as well as total fatty acid (TFA) content, the optimum irradiance of 400 µmol photons m^-2 s^-1 in a photoautotrophic regime was determined for most of the strains. The growth rates of Scenedesmus and Desmodesmus strains in general were approximately twice as high

SUBMITTER: Sterbova K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12799715 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature